Vikings expect ups and downs as they 'build' J.J. McCarthy into sustainable QB

McCarthy, 22, is the unquestioned starting quarterback of the Vikings. But that doesn't mean they aren't preaching patience and setting an expectation for ups and downs.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell instructs quarterback J.J. McCarthy during practice. | Image courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

"There's going to be some ups, there's going to be some downs," Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said Thursday while talking about 22-year-old quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

Ups and downs in the NFL? It happens to the best of them. Josh Allen went from throwing 18 interceptions in 2023 to winning the MVP in 2024. Peyton Manning tossed 81 interceptions in the first four years of his career. Jared Goff, Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold were considered busts at one point, but they all fiinshed top five in passing yards and passer rating last season.

The point is that grading McCarthy during his first season as Vikings starting quarterback needs to be done with care — and O'Connell is going to be doing so with white gloves and a microscope during the 2025-26 season.

"I am wildly in favor of the quarterback development process involving more than just the quarterback," O'Connell told KFAN-FM's Dan Barreiro. "I believe you're supposed to put a really good team around any quarterback that plays."

Building McCarthy into sustainable QB

The Vikings have done that. McCarthy is protected by an offensive line that brings back star tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill and bolstered the weak interior with first-round pick Donovan Jackson and free agents Ryan Kelly and Will Fries. They added Jordan Mason for a bruising element in the run game, and Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, Jalen Nailor and Rondale Moore give McCarthy ample weapons in the passing game.

The roster should help McCarthy with the expected growing pains of being a first-year starter in the NFL, but he can't hide from everything. Specifically, he can't hide from the "hard downs."

"You hear me use that term 'hard down' all the time. I think too many people in this league force the young quarterback to play the hard down. It's hard enough as it is. There's no removing the difficulty of what playing the quarterback position is in the NFL You can't hide from a third-and-7. You can't hide from a third-and-8 at the 8. That's a quarterback down," O'Connell told Barreiro.

"That is a quarterback down, but what are we doing all the other times? What are we doing to put drives together, stack plays, marry the run and the pass — a whole lot of things that can sound cliche if we don't live it, breathe it and do it for the player on a daily basis. And then remember, we drafted a player we hoped would hold himself to a standard that allows that arrow to stay pointed up regardless of the result, especially early on. Because we're trying to build a player here that can sustain for a long time in Minnesota."

Teaching moment after interception

McCarthy is learning as he goes — and O'Connell is teaching. The reigning NFL Coach of the Year used an interception thrown Thursday by McCarthy as an example of how he gives feedback and how McCarthy responds to the new information.

"We had Jordan Addison on a double move to the left. A core concept, a little bit of a double move. He got re-routed, jammed at the line of scrimmage — just a little bit too long for my liking," O'Connell said, explaining the play on the practice field at TCO Performance Center in Eagan.

"J.J., [with] his utmost confidence in Jordan to maybe get up on that safety and maybe launch the ball down the field, he hung with it one hitch too many. He had either Lucky Jackson or Speedy Nailor coming over the middle, pretty open on an in-cut, he took one hitch too many to the left side ... best thing about J.J. is he said, 'I should've got off of it much earlier.' And then he came back a couple plays later, similar type of look, and made a great decision and threw a great ball right back there to Addison. One of those things where you define learning, teachable moments in practice."

O'Connell setting fan expectations for McCarthy was mirrored by Jefferson, who preached patience.

"You definitely have to have patience," Jefferson said Thursday. "He's pretty much a rookie. Last year pretty much doesn't count for him. So he's still new to the scheme, new to coming out here and throwing it to these different receivers. So yes, you have to have that patience. You're not really expecting him to have the same mindset as a veteran. You can't really have that expectation from him."

Entering the weekend, the Vikings have 17 more practices and a trio of preseason games before the roster will be trimmed from 90 to 53 players. McCarthy will need to be the leader of the offense, but he won't be doing it alone — and the way the Vikings grade his performance will be determined, in part, by how well everyone around him plays.