In theory, the Vikings have an interesting balance to strike when it comes to J.J. McCarthy’s playing time in preseason action next month. On the one hand, he’s their starting quarterback, and that’s not usually someone who plays much (or at all) in the preseason, especially under Kevin O’Connell. On the other hand, he’s 22 years old and is need of as many reps as possible for his development.
McCarthy, last year’s No. 10 overall draft pick, got a chance to play a bunch in the Vikings’ preseason opener against the Raiders last summer. He came in after one Sam Darnold series and was out there for over a full half, playing 30 snaps and completing 11 of 17 passes for 188 yards, 2 touchdowns, and a pick in an impressive showing.
Unfortunately, MRIs revealed that McCarthy had torn his meniscus in that game, ending his rookie season before it could begin. This time around, it sounds like he’ll play a little bit in the preseason opener, but the Vikings will treat him more like a typical starting QB and focus on training camp for his development.
“He might not get as much time to play as much as he did in that (Raiders) game,” GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah told KFAN’s Paul Allen. “I think he’ll play in that first game.”
The safe assumption is that McCarthy will come out with the first-team offense when the Vikings begin the preseason against the Texans on August 9 at U.S. Bank Stadium. He’ll presumably get more than a single series, but also less than a full half. The Vikings have three other quarterbacks — Sam Howell, Brett Rypien, and Max Brosmer — they’ll want to see in game action.
And that’ll almost certainly be it for McCarthy in the preseason. He’ll get a bevy of reps against the Patriots’ first-team defense in a pair of joint practices the following week, so it would be very surprising if he plays at all in that second preseason game. The third one is always reserved for younger, end-of-roster type players fighting to make the team or earn a practice squad spot.
You could make the argument that McCarthy should play more than a little bit in the preseason this year. But the Vikings will have plenty of time to get him reps and aid his development throughout training camp, where they’ll be looking for incremental growth.
“You want to see improvement,” Adofo-Mensah said. “You want to see, hey maybe that’s a coverage that he saw in practice, this time he saw it and he didn’t make that decision. You guys might not see anything, maybe it’s a throw-away, but we’re gonna see that. Ah, he saw that dropper that time or something like that.
“That’s what we’re excited to see, little things we know he’s been working on. Certain types of throws. It might be a 3rd and 7 in a meaningless preseason game, but you’ll see a type of throw that we’re really excited to see and you’ll see us fired up in the booth. That’s why I’m so excited about this journey. We don’t know what the end destination is, but those little things, those little moments are going to be what we look forward to.”
McCarthy got off to a solid start during the first practice of camp on Wednesday. There’s a lot more learning and developing to do, but the Vikings are fired up about where he’s at and where they think he’ll be when the regular season begins.
“Let me tell you, arm-talent wise there’s some things he does (that are great),” Adofo-Mensah said. “The accuracy, when he wants to trust it and let it go, it’s coming at you pretty good. So we’re excited about that. Obviously, we’ll keep continuing to help him grow and learn the things he needs to develop at. And that’ll take his game to the next level while his teammates, by the way, are uplifting and supporting him and giving us different options to move the football.”
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