Last season, J.J. McCarthy was the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. Now, McCarthy's entire future with the Vikings is up in the air following the team's decision to sign former Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray on Thursday.
Some will claim that Minnesota will have Murray and McCarthy compete this summer to be the team's Week 1 starter, but even Stevie Wonder can see what's about to happen.
If everything goes according to plan, Murray will be the Vikings' No. 1 quarterback to begin next season, and he'll likely hold onto the role during the entire 2026 campaign.
So, where does that leave McCarthy?
Kyler Murray joining the Minnesota Vikings could be the best thing to happen to J.J. McCarthy
Back in the day, and let's pick a day from the 1990s, NFL quarterbacks used to be given the opportunity to fail over, and over, and over, and over (and over) again in their development process. But that's not how it goes around the league anymore.
Thanks to guys like Jayden Daniels, C.J. Stroud, Andrew Luck, and others, NFL owners want their team's young quarterback to be successful immediately, and if they're not within a year or two, then they want to find someone different to start under center.
But not every quarterback is the same, and some need to spend more time on the sideline than others. Just look at what taking a step back and not being a starter for a year or two did for guys like Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, and Daniel Jones.
Sometimes, young quarterbacks just need to learn how to drink from something other than a fire hose.
So, with Minnesota bringing in Murray, McCarthy has a great opportunity to just sit back and actually catch his breath.
It's easy to forget that McCarthy has never had a chance to experience a season from the bench as a healthy quarterback. He missed his entire rookie campaign with a knee injury, and then multiple injuries forced him to miss a bunch of practice time in the middle of last season.
If the Vikings make McCarthy their No. 2 signal-caller for 2026, then each week during the season, he'll have the chance to get a bunch of reps against Minnesota's No. 1 defense as the scout-team quarterback.
We all know the Vikings have had one of the best defenses in the NFL since Brian Flores was put in charge of the unit, so if McCarthy can start to have success against them in practice next season, then the team should feel confident about him facing just about any defense in the league.
Minnesota head coach Kevin O'Connell famously said in 2024 that "organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations," and some might believe that the Vikings are failing McCarthy by signing Murray.
But that's actually not the case at all.
O'Connell would be failing McCarthy by just handing him Minnesota's QB1 job once again for the 2026 season. Instead, the young Vikings' quarterback is going to have a chance to compete with Murray in OTAs and training camp, and most likely learn from the sideline next season.
McCarthy's performance in 2025 showed that he's not quite ready to be at the top of Minnesota's quarterback depth chart, and now O'Connell is going to see if letting his young passer watch a seasoned pro from the sidelines next season will be what helps him reach his full potential.