Justin Jefferson kept it real about J.J. McCarthy’s learning curve. Early in Vikings training camp, surrounded by a media scrum, the superstar wide receiver admitted that he’ll have to be patient with the quarterback situation. That’s what comes with a green passer, even one who’s not technically a rookie.
“Last year pretty much doesn’t count for him,” Jefferson said of McCarthy. “He’s still new to the scheme, new to coming out here and throwing it to these different receivers. So yes, you have to have that patience.
“You’re not really expecting him to have the same mindset as a veteran,” he added. “You can’t really have that expectation.”
As McCarthy enters his first game action on Saturday since tearing the meniscus in his right knee last August, Jefferson isn’t downgrading Minnesota’s new quarterback. He’s simply framing the expectations. Jefferson understands that McCarthy, the first QB selected in the first round in the modern era to miss his entire rookie season due to injury, will experience the normal ups and downs for first-time NFL passers.
It’s a particularly important message considering the pressure-filled situation that McCarthy enters.
J.J. McCarthy’s rookie season was cut short due to a knee injury in his first preseason game as a pro. He’ll be back in action on Saturday, one day shy of a year later. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)
The Vikings won 14 regular-season games last year with a resurgent Sam Darnold, who then played poorly in the team’s final two games, including Minnesota’s wild-card loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Entering 2025, all the Vikings appear to need to be a true Super Bowl contender is elite quarterback play.
Even with Darnold walking in free agency, Minnesota looks even better on paper thanks to its upgrades in the trenches. If McCarthy succeeds right away, the Vikings will be off to the races. If he struggles, it could set the franchise back years.
So expectations for the young quarterback must be tempered — even if what Jayden Daniels and C.J. Stroud did in back-to-back years has skewed what’s possible for passers in their debut season.
What’s been positive for McCarthy early in training camp is his mindset facing Brian Flores’ defense in practice every day. Known for his aggressive and creative schemes, Flores has been throwing the kitchen sink at McCarthy.
“There’s so much learning involved,” McCarthy said last week. “With those front seven guys and that rush, it’s tremendous to feel that early on and be able to make quicker decisions — get to my [running] again, possibly discover an escape lane right here or there once they’re taking part in man on the again finish.
“When the durations don’t go your means, you’re all the time asking why,” he added. “It’s by no means a loss, and also you’re all the time studying from it — if it’s good or unhealthy. However particularly in these durations the place they actually get you, that’s the place we will actually be taught essentially the most about ourselves and our offense’s identification.”
The Vikings have additionally praised McCarthy’s management capability.
“He’s an unbelievable expertise and tremendous sensible,” tight finish T.J. Hockenson mentioned. “He has a kind of brains to the place he’s a quarterback. He has loads going by his head. He’s a man that is ready to lead the group. You possibly can inform that simply being out right here with him for a couple of days.”
That does not imply there have not been difficult days and teachable moments in camp, although.
Most NFL video games come all the way down to execution in a handful of essential conditions — which Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell regularly reinforces with the previous Michigan star.
“What I am so enthusiastic about … is the dialogue of the nice safety calls he is made,” O’Connell mentioned. “It is the dialogue of an excellent checkdown he is made on first-and-10 when possibly the downfield shot’s not there. These are the issues that I’ve actually loved and actually seen him develop. On the identical time, he is a aggressive sucker now. He needs to win each drill and win day-after-day. That is type of my job, to attempt to carry an entire really feel to the whole lot that we’re doing.”
After main Sam Darnold to a profession resurgence, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell now has a brand new pupil in J.J. McCarthy. (Photograph by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Pictures)
Jefferson is McCarthy’s locker mate. He sees the progress on and off the sector. He sees the arrogance required to succeed on the highest stage.
The All-Professional receiver believes expectations of the younger quarterback needs to be tempered, certain. However don’t mistake that for a scarcity of perception.
“You possibly can type of see the arrogance he has on the market,” Jefferson mentioned. “Should you’re within the huddle, you see the arrogance he has simply saying the play and simply getting on the market and eager to make the subsequent play.
“We do have an expectation of him to be nice.”
Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand labored for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Community, the place he was the Titans beat author for a 12 months and a half. He lined the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for 3 seasons (2018-20) previous to transferring to Tennessee. You possibly can observe Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.
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