It was no secret the Minnesota Vikings badly wanted to find their next quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. The question was whether they would be able to make that happen by trading up from the 11th pick or standing pat. The latter seemed to be a risky move, and the former figured to be potentially very expensive.
This worked under the assumption that the top four quarterbacks, of the six who potentially would be taken in the opening round, were Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy. Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix also were in the mix, but many considered them to be a step down.
As expected, Williams went first overall to the Chicago Bears, and Daniels was taken second by Washington. The intrigue began at No. 3 since there was some thought the Patriots might have been willing to move off that pick for an enormous return. But New England either didn’t get the offer it wanted or never intended to pass on Maye.
That left the Vikings in the position of having to trade up, or rely on hope, if they wanted to land McCarthy. The first sign that things were turning in the Vikings’ favor came at the sixth pick as the New York Giants grabbed wide receiver Malik Nabers to serve as a weapon for quarterback Daniel Jones. Many had thought the Giants might opt for McCarthy with an eye toward having him replace Jones.
The next break came two picks later as the Atlanta Falcons made the most surprising move of the first round by taking Penix at No. 8. These are the same Falcons who signed former Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract in free agency last month and appeared to be all in on the veteran.
Two picks later, with McCarthy still on the board, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah ended the waiting by acquiring the 10th pick, along with a seventh-rounder, from the New York Jets in exchange for the No. 11 selection and a pick each in the fourth and fifth rounds. McCarthy became the first quarterback the Vikings have ever invested a top-10 pick on.
Smart money said O’Connell’s first choice was Maye, but McCarthy wasn’t believed to be far behind. Missing on McCarthy, with Penix already off the board, would have left the Vikings in position to be criticized and second-guessing themselves for not being more aggressive in moving up the draft board.
O’Connell, who was part of a contingent from the Vikings that conducted private workouts with all of the top QBs except for Williams, acknowledged there were some anxious moments as the process played out.
“We knew we weren’t the only ones that had identified (McCarthy) as a quarterback that we wanted to select,” he said. “So, in those moments you start thinking about kind of the what if? If we’re not able to get this thing done, making that one pick jump. Once we were able to do that and agree to that deal and I knew we were going to be selecting J.J., it was just pure excitement.”
That wasn’t just true for O’Connell. The majority of Vikings fans also were very pleased.
Cousins’ departure left many wondering what the team would do at quarterback, and the move to sign veteran Sam Darnold to a one-year, $10 million contract in free agency didn’t provide much confidence.
The Vikings’ obtained the 23rd pick in the first round from Houston in March in part because it was believed they might need to package two first-rounders in order to move into the top five to take a quarterback. But the Vikings got the best of both worlds as they were able to get one of the QBs they wanted and keep their second first-round pick.
That was used on Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner, whom the Vikings took at No. 17 after trading No. 23 and a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, as well as third- and fourth-rounders in 2025, to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
O’Connell did his best in his press conference Thursday to include Turner in conversations, but it was clear McCarthy was the main story. If Cousins’ departure created questions about the future at QB, the drafting of McCarthy put an end to the Cousins chapter and gave the Vikings new life at quarterback.
Attention now will turn to what O’Connell can get out of McCarthy and when McCarthy might take over the starting role. O’Connell earned well-deserved credit for his work with Cousins, but in that case he inherited a quarterback who was well into his career.
O’Connell, a former backup quarterback in the NFL, will get the opportunity to develop the 21-year-old McCarthy from scratch. At least as a professional.
McCarthy’s critics will point to the fact he was 94th in FBS last season in passes per game at 22.1. But playing for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan, McCarthy was 27-1 as a starter and helped guide the Wolverines to the national championship last season. McCarthy also had success in high school, winning two state championships at Nazareth Academy in Illinois. He won a high school national title after moving to IMG Academy for his senior season.
He’s basically won everywhere he has gone.
“J.J. was a guy, very, very early in the process — obviously coming off a national championship — (he) has won at every level he has been at,” O’Connell said. “Then when you really dive into the tape, some of the things I really look for and really emphasize in my evaluation process, there was a lot to really like about J.J.’s tape and that was before he absolutely crushed the process postseason.”
McCarthy will arrive in Minnesota with a big advantage over a guy like Maye, who is joining the bottom-feeding Patriots. O’Connell will have a coach who understands his position and wants to mold him, and a wide receiver group that includes stars Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. The Vikings are coming off a disappointing season but they aren’t rebuilding.
What they are hoping is that on Thursday night they landed a guy who will lead them to their first Super Bowl appearance since Fran Tarkenton.