While rival fans and even many around the NFL haven’t had the highest expectations for J.J. McCarthy, Michigan football fans know better, and now Minnesota Vikings fans are starting to learn the same.
Because McCarthy wasn’t in a pass-heavy offense, his stats weren’t on par with some others across college football. But when it comes to ‘wow’ plays, third downs, and general command of the offense, McCarthy was top-notch. He was just about the only Wolverines quarterback in the past 20 years where fans weren’t clamoring to see the backup — and with good reason.
His new head coach, Kevin O’Connell, appeared on the Rich Eisen Show, and naturally, the Michigan alum host had to ask him about what he’s seen from his newfound toy leading the offense. And O’Connell was quite enthusiastic about the No. 10 overall pick in this past draft.
“He’s had a great spring. He’s off to a really good start, transitioning into a new offense, a bunch of new teammates, new players, ” O’Connell said. “He gets a ton of work throughout, routes on air and even in 7-on-7, where we we’re going full speed — and all that stuff with some of the first group throughout the spring.
“So J.J. has gotten a good acclamation to what our offense is really all about. He’s starting to show some ownership of it and growing every single day.”
So, he’s coming along, that’s good. but has he lived up to expectations?
A lot of Ohio State fans (particularly) have particularly parsed every video that the Vikings have put out, trying to make it seem as if McCarthy is struggling — instead of leaving their rivalry at the NFL draft door. But O’Connell’s picture of what McCarthy has done is certainly much different than the picture being painted by the rival to the south.
“I can just tell you, everything so far we had hoped to get out of J.J. from the spring, confirming a lot of things we thought about him throughout the pre draft process, he’s done all those things and then some,” O’Connell said. “He’s been wearing us out at the facilities, working his tail off, and I think he’s gonna be in a great spot to continue his growth and development — on a really good timeline.”
It’s unclear still whether or not McCarthy will take the reins of the Vikings offense in year one. Minnesota did acquire Sam Darnold this offseason, so there could be some measure of a stop-gap while McCarthy acclimates to the NFL.
O’Connell shared more about the process that his first-year signal caller is currently going through and how they’re treating his development. Instead of starting from scratch as some others might do, O’Connell says the Vikings are trying to lean into McCarthy’s experience to help add to his abilities, rather than trying to shape them into something different.
“I think first and foremost, our job is to make sure we create the best possible learning environment every single day for J.J. and that’s how we teach, that’s how we install the offense,” O’Connell said. “It’s how we coach the individual aspects of the quarterback position, whether it’s the run game, the pass game, reading coverage, technique, fundamentals. There really is a quarterback school that kind of takes place for our offense. And what I think is the best way to do it is to not completely forget everything that they’ve done up until this point. I mean, how many times can we apply principles that we saw on tape?
“We got to know J.J. really well pre-draft. What are the areas where he’s most comfortable? And then where are the areas where we want to make sure that he feels challenged on a daily basis? Because it’s got to be the perfect combination of really challenging him, exposing him to some of the difficulties that will be out in front of him, so that he can then identify and go attack while also making sure that we’re maintaining the confidence in a player that has a lot of it. Rightly so — the guy’s won at every level he’s ever been at. He’s coming off a national championship and playing the quarterback position at a high level.
“So it’s a good balance of both knowing that it’s still just May-June as we work towards the end of this offseason program and we’re gonna have a competitive training camp. But we do have a plan for J.J., a long-term plan. We see him as our quarterback of the future and that ultimately starts with him taking game reps under center. Will really be about his process to getting there and demonstrating that he’s got total comfort in the system.”