The NFL season is underway. The road to San Francisco for Super Bowl 60 begins in the grueling summer heat. That includes in the south metro 'burb of Eagan, Minnesota where the Minnesota Vikings have players reporting to camp Monday as the season starts to ramp up for real.
It's now been eight years since Vikings players and personnel had to take that long trip down Highway 169 for training camp in Mankato, their training camp home for decades before the franchise and the owners decided to break ground on a brand-new facility just off of 494 in Eagan.
Gone are the college dorm rooms of Minnesota State-Mankato. Between practices and meetings the players now stay at the Omni Vikings Lakes Hotel in Eagan. It's a far cry from those non-air conditioned dorm rooms in Gage Hall.
Rookies reported on Sunday, but others like J.J. McCarthy and Christian Darrisaw, both coming off season-ending injuries in 2024, were also there.
Practices are open to the public starting this Friday. The first preseason game is August 9 against the Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium.
As for the on-the-field product, McCarthy is the man in Minnesota after he missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury, opening the door for journeyman QB Sam Darnold to get the starting spot. He led the Vikings to 14-3 record - good for second in the NFC North behind Detroit - before a quick and disappointing exit from the NFL Playoffs thanks to the LA Rams. Now Darnold is in Seattle - and McCarthy as a psuedo-rookie becomes the starter.
"He's clearly, since we evaluated him and getting him here, arm strength has always been there, accuracy on a lot of the throws that we ask of quarterback sin this offense have been there," says McCarthy's head coach Kevin O'Connell.
O'Connell adds that McCarthy is still learning how to work the ball into the tight spaces required to be an NFL QB.
"There have been some growth from a standpoint of, you can call it throw variation, arm talent, everybody's got a name for everything, from a standpoint of, how do I get this ball completed? Where maybe there's not a direct path but I've got to throw it up and over somebody. Where maybe I only have eight to ten yards of space in the end zone in the low red period to get that done, what I want to compliment him on, is he's making the attempts. He's learning what it feels like to attempt those throws," O'Connell explained.
McCarthy himself feels like he's ready to go.
"Off to a great start but we all know this is just the jumping off point," adds McCarthy who spoke after the team's minicamp practices. "We accomplished a lot in these last three months but gotta keep that momentum going into camp."
More training camp information is available here, including how to get tickets.