Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell acknowledged that J.J. McCarthy remains a bit of a mystery, especially as he recovers from meniscus surgery. “We won’t really know until we see him out there on the field,” O’Connell told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. After spending years in the NFL’s middle tier with Kirk Cousins, the Vikings decided to roll the dice, moving on from their Pro Bowl QB in hopes of finding greater potential. They took a similar approach with Sam Darnold, letting go of the veteran after a wild-card playoff exit in January. Whether McCarthy proves to be an upgrade is still an open question.
On the April 15 episode of Fox Sports’ First Things First, analyst Nick Wright praised the Vikings for making a bold move at quarterback, drawing parallels to the Kansas City Chiefs’ decision to transition from Alex Smith to Patrick Mahomes. “I’m not saying he’s going to be Mahomes,” Wright clarified. “But the Chiefs were consistently winning their division and making the playoffs with Alex Smith — and still chose to move up in the draft to take a quarterback, just like the Vikings did. Mahomes sat for a year, they eventually moved on from Smith, and aimed for greatness. I respect Minnesota for trying to do the same.”
Still, Wright expressed skepticism about J.J. McCarthy’s value at No. 10 overall — coincidentally the same draft spot where Mahomes was taken in 2017. “I never understood McCarthy as a first-round pick,” he said, adding that most of the praise around McCarthy seemed to focus on intangibles rather than football performance. “It’s a risk.”
While comparing McCarthy to Mahomes may be unfair, the Vikings are clearly betting on the young quarterback’s potential. The hope is that he can grow into a player capable of leading Minnesota’s talented roster on a deep playoff run. Despite lingering questions, Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings seem willing to take that gamble — much like the one that helped them win 14 games last season with Sam Darnold.
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