Kevin O'Connell sends sales pitch to Vikings fans on J.J. McCarthy as franchise transitions from Sam Darnold
Sam Darnold enjoyed a career renaissance with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024 and led the team to a 14-3 regular season record, the second-best in franchise history. The quarterback exploited the Vikings' incredible receiving unit, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.
Despite his stellar campaign, the Vikings opted to let him walk in free agency and defer to J.J. McCarthy, who was expected to be the starting quarterback last year before a meniscus tear in preseason scuppered those plans. There are concerns about whether the sophomore star can replicate Darnold's heroics, especially as he didn't play in a pass-first offense at Michigan.
However, coach Kevin O'Connell has complete faith in McCarthy and said that he was pro-ready coming out of college. On the This Is Football show, he said (0:28):
"(J.J. McCarthy) didn't throw a lot of bubble screens, he didn't throw a lot of RPOs. He was in a pro-style offense where they were running the football. They needed some high-quality execution on some of those weighty downs that's really what we'd like to be with our offense."
O'Connell added that watching Darnold operate from the sidelines last season has accelerated the young signal-caller's development, and he's ready to showcase his ability (0:47):
"The other thing I'll say is he's had a year now of being around a guy like Sam Darnold through his journey. He got to watch it, see what meetings were like; what's it like when I install third-down plays. … He's not a rookie.
"He's had that pseudo-redshirt year — albeit without the reps we would've wanted — but I'm really confident, really excited to see him hit the ground running."
J.J. McCarthy's passing stats at Michigan: QB will have to showcase a previously unseen side
J.J. McCarthy became the Michigan Wolverines' undisputed starting quarterback in the 2022 college football season. Coach Jim Harbaugh deployed a run-first offense that didn't rely heavily on the quarterback's arm. McCarthy finished the year with 2,719 passing yards, an average of just 194.2 per game.
McCarthy didn't get to showcase his development as a passer in his second year as the Wolverines' starting quarterback either. Michigan remained a run-first team as running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards clocked more rush attempts than the team's total pass plays.
McCarthy completed a Big Ten-best 73.2% of his pass attempts for 2,991 passing yards, but his tally ranked 35th in college football. The Wolverines won the National Championship, but it was on their defensive and running game prowess rather than their quarterback's arm.
The sophomore star is now playing on a team with a pass-first mentality. It remains to be seen whether the quarterback flies or falters in a completely different system than the one he played in at Michigan.