On Sunday, rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy arrived at the TCO Performance Center for his first-ever training camp as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. It's the next step in the development process for the former Michigan signal-caller who was selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft this past April.
Heading into Minnesota's training camp, most have assumed that the team is going to open the regular season with veteran Sam Darnold as their starting quarterback.
However, not everyone is on board with this being the correct approach for the Vikings to take with McCarthy during his rookie campaign.
Argument made for Minnesota Vikings to get J.J. McCarthy "as many throws as humanly possible"
During Monday's episode of "NFL Live" on ESPN, analyst Kevin Clark was asked if Minnesota opening training camp by giving Darnold most of the reps with the first-team offense, and not McCarthy, is the right decision.
Clark emphatically disagreed with what the Vikings are currently doing with the team's top pick in the 2024 draft.
"I hope the methodical approach is to get J.J. McCarthy as many throws as humanly possible. If he has a flaw coming into the NFL, it's his lack of college throws.
He had 1,000 fewer attempts than some of the other guys in this draft class over his career. That's significant in this era of training camp.
This is not 1994. There are no two-a-days. You cannot develop a second quarterback in training camp anymore.
Remember, Sam Darnold's new to the team. He has to learn stuff too. So, it's not like he's totally comfortable. So, I would get McCarthy as many reps as humanly possible."
Clark then added why Minnesota's current offensive scheme under head coach Kevin O'Connell is a good fit for what McCarthy excelled at during his college career at Michigan.
"Middle of the field, Kevin O'Connell, last year, was a top three play caller only behind only Shanahan and McDaniel over the middle of the field.
Guess who the best player in the Big Ten was over the middle of the field?
It was J.J. McCarthy.
So, you can get him layups early. You can get him easy answers. I think you wanna make life easy for the quarterback. That means giving him reps. That means starting Week 1.
The reason you get rid of Kirk Cousins is to raise the ceiling on this organization. Sam Darnold does not help you do that. J.J. McCarthy's future does. Start him now, and that includes training camp."
It's definitely going to be very interesting to see how the next few weeks play out.
The Vikings certainly seem content with beginning the upcoming regular season with Darnold as their starting quarterback. But, at the same time, what has he done during his NFL career that makes some so convinced that he's going to be able to hold off McCarthy in this summer's training camp?
Minnesota has still been doing a good job with how they've been handling the rookie signal-caller's development since they drafted him in April, whether Clark agrees or not. They're not going to put too much on McCarthy's plate if he can't handle it right now.
But if he is able to perform at a similar level or better than Darnold during the next few weeks, then the Vikings might have to take Clark's advice and give him a legitimate shot to open the 2024 season as the team's starting quarterback.