After some level of dalliance with Aaron Rodgers, the Minnesota Vikings are (as they always were) committed to J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback in 2025, and ideally for a while beyond that.
There are easy questions about going with a quarterback who lost his rookie season to a knee injury and will not take his first regular-season NFL snap until Week 1. But Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell obviously influenced the decision to give up some draft capital to move up one spot to get McCarthy.
So if O'Connell thinks McCarthy can get it done, we should confidently trust his assessment unless/until McCarthy shows otherwise.
Minnesota was easily regarded as the best spot for an incoming rookie quarterback in the 2024 draft, rooted in O'Connell's presence. The overall situation for a young quarterback was, of course, very good, and a year later, that has only been bolstered by what the Vikings did this offseason to upgrade their offensive line.
To put it concisely, McCarthy is being set up to succeed. There's evidence he has the raw tools to pay off that plan, however, we project based on him not having to be a high-volume passer in college at Michigan.
Fantasy analyst concisely outlines J.J. McCarthy's potential with the Minnesota Vikings
As Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said in his comments after acquiring Sam Howell to be McCarthy's backup, the Vikings were patient in their plan to secure a young quarterback. When the timing was right, with Kirk Cousins being allowed to leave as the root of that, McCarthy became the guy.
O'Connell has started to establish himself right next to San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan as a play-caller who knows how to coax good play out of a quarterback regardless of his talent level.
On a fantasy football tangent, Ian Hartitz of Fantasy Life has put succinct numbers on that idea.
O'Connell's best work with a quarterback so far as the Vikings' head coach is easy to see, as it was Sam Darnold last year. But after Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles in 2023, career backups Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens also played the best football of their careers in short samples to keep things afloat.
Raw, unproven talent matched with a coach who is a quarterback guru. McCarthy is a de facto rookie this year, and he's lined up to far outdo any quarterback in the 2025 draft class in his first year as a starter.