The NFL Draft is now being the Minnesota Vikings, and attention fully turns to offseason workouts and finalizing rosters ahead of training came. That means some new faces in big places such as quarterback J.J. McCarthy who isn't shying away from being the Vikings starting quarterback ahead of the 2025 regular season.
"I know I'm ready to start."
Those very confident words from what is presumed to be the new QB. McCarthy spoke with media members Tuesday for the first time since his surgery last year to repair a torn meniscus. A sore knee after a preseason game discovered the tear, and shut down the team's first round draft pick ahead of the season, and gave veteran journeyman Sam Darnold the opportunity to start.
Darnold had a good year and led the team to 14 wins. But it was the last two games - a regular season loss to the Detroit Lions and a playoff beatdown from the Los Angeles Rams - that convinced the Viking brass it was not worth putting big money down on Darnold to continue as the starter. Darnold signed a free agent deal with Seattle.
At that point, there was a dalliance with former Packer and NY Jet Aaron Rodgers who it now appears is either heading for Pittsburgh or retirement, and wondering how McCarthy recovered from surgery.
McCarthy says the process has been unique but he's been able to focus on the mental side of the game which he sees as a positive despite not being able to play a single regular season snap in 2024. Viking Head Coach Kevin O'Connell has had a ton of success turning quarterbacks who have had middling careers, into a net-positive for the team, something the Vikings hope McCarthy can improve on.
"Just really getting on the same page with KO has been awesome," says McCarthy. "Last season, seeing how he calls the games and everything like that, as well as the intricate personality traits of the guys on the team. And being able to, you know, feed those that help strengthen the overall group and help strengthen them individually."
McCarthy says he hasn't paid any attention to the conversations about who the Vikings were thinking about bringing in - conversations that included Rodgers.
"Obviously respect Aaron Rodgers, one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game," McCarthy said Tuesday. "But all I was focusing on was just that day-to-day task, you know. What I was doing here, what I was doing at home to kind of make myself the best overall player I could be, best overall man. And yeah, those blinders were on just like they've been on my entire career."
As for why McCarthy says he's ready to lead the Vikings? McCarthy says it's because of the players that surround him.
"Just being able to do my job and simplify things to the best of my ability every single day and just take it one day at a time, one play at a time," he adds. "And I have a tremendous coaching staff, a tremendous group of guys around me that I can lean on and they can lean on me."
It's all shaping up to be a totally different QB room for the Vikings in 2025. Besides McCarthy, the Vikings hung on to Brett Rypien who has a total of four NFL starts in six seasons. But it'll be a newcomer that appears to be McCarthy's backup.
The Vikings acquired quarterback Sam Howell in a trade with Seattle on Saturday during the NFL draft, swapping fifth-round picks with the Seahawks. Howell passed for 3,946 yards in 2023 while starting all 17 games for the Washington Commanders so he comes in with some experience. Howell led the league that season with 21 interceptions and 65 sacks for a 4-13 team, but the 2022 fifth-round pick is just 24 years old and joining that quarterback-friendly offense directed by O’Connell.
“If the season started today,” Viking General Manager Adofo-Mensah said, “we’d be fired up about the guys in that room.”
Perhaps most importantly for McCarthy, O'Connell, Mensah and the rest of the Purple is what the team did to shore up an offensive line that was run over badly in those last two games of the 2024 season.
The five up front have been retooled in a significant way during the offseason. They signed a couple of former Colts veterans in guard Will Fries and center Ryan Kelly.
They also get starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw back from a torn ACL, still have right tackle Brian O'Neil, and in the NFL Draft added Ohio State offensive lineman Donovan Jackson - who could start at guard immediately. That group now turns the offensive line into a team strength, an important turn for a team with a first-year started at QB.
Next up for the Vikings is finding out who and when they'll play. The 2025 Vikings schedule gets released Wednesday, May 14.