The scenario where J.J. McCarthy isn't Minnesota's starting QB in 2025

Excitement about Sam Darnold's potential in Minnesota is building each day closer to the 2024-25 regular season, but sitting in the shadows at TCO Performance Center is rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

McCarthy, 21, is the future quarterback of the Vikings. The question isn't if he'll be barking out signals under center, it's when he'll be commanding the huddle and finding Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison in the end zone for touchdowns.

In his Friday mailbag, Purple Insider's Matthew Coller wrote that "it’s hard to see too many situations where [McCarthy] wouldn’t be starting in 2025."

"If somehow Sam Darnold goes 12-5 with 33 touchdowns and 10 INTs and they win a playoff game then we might see him get franchise tagged in 2025 and try to run it back to chase a championship," Coller wrote. "I don’t think that’s particularly likely but if that’s why McCarthy isn’t starting then it’s not a problem at all. I can’t think of a non-injury reason that he wouldn’t be starting in 2025 otherwise. They are planning this entire thing out for him to be ready at least by Week 1 2025 so they are going to roll with that even if there are still questions after next year’s camp."

Darnold will walk into Vikings training camp on July 27 as Minnesota's QB1. Head coach Kevin O'Connell has not declared him the Week 1 starting quarterback, but all signs point to Darnold being the man when the Vikings and Giants kick off the 2024-25 season Sept. 8 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

If Darnold lights up the league and becomes the player the Jets thought they were getting when they drafted him third overall in 2018, then a run-it-back scenario could be in the works for 2025. But what if Darnold is simply too good to replace, regardless of how ready McCarthy is in 2025 or even 2026? Could that lead to Minnesota exercising even more patience with McCarthy the way the Packers did with Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love?

Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre for three seasons before taking the reins in his fourth season at the age of 25. Love, also a first-round pick, then sat behind Rodgers for three seasons before getting the starting job in Year 4 as a 25-year-old.

The difference in Minnesota is that Darnold is 27 years old and if he somehow becomes a top-10 quarterback he'll still be young enough to warrant a lucrative contract extension and more years as the starter, whereas Favre and Rodgers were in their late 30s when the Packers passed the baton to their young QB on the bench.

"As far as talent goes, as far as ability, Sam Darnold coming out had everything that you look for in a quarterback that you're willing to invest a first-round pick in," O'Connell said this week in an interview with Colin Cowherd. "I think he's matured a ton. He understands exactly who he is as a quarterback."

"He's had a great spring, but ultimately it's going to be all about training camp and preparing to be the quarterback of our team," O'Connell stated. "Can he stack some days together and build confidence not only in himself but through his teammates watching him go to work every day and tirelessly prepare to be at his best?"

Darnold has as much to play for this season as anyone in the NFL. There is big-time pressure on him to perform, and if he does it will give the Vikings one of those cliched good problems to have.