The Minnesota Vikings began phase two of their OTA schedule on Tuesday and of all the Vikings’ players that have something like a roster-lock status, nobody has more to prove than J.J. McCarthy. A few reasons:
First, unlike last year at this time, McCarthy has a competitor in Kyler Murray who will be named the starter sooner rather than later absent some significant improvement from McCarthy. Some may ask if it isn’t Murray who has something to prove, and he does, but not as much as McCarthy. Murray has an 88-start baseline that shows he can operate an offensive better than McCarthy has shown so far.
Secondly, the reason the Vikings brought in Murray, beyond McCarthy’s durability concerns, is that McCarthy showed he had difficulty with tasks that an NFL starting quarterback should have down by now. Fundamental footwork technique/mechanics. Being able to make all the throws accurately, including layered throws with touch. And being able to process and deliver the ball on time. For many who thought McCarthy would do better early on as a starter, myself included, what was frustrating and very concerning is that footwork/mechanical issues became more of a problem than they were from his college tape. Similarly, his processing and ability to deliver the ball on time has gotten worse, not better. Clearly the speed and complexity of the NFL game has been a difficult challenge for McCarthy. At the same time, he hasn’t made any progress since college in being able to layer balls with touch. Indeed, his overall accuracy has regressed since college as well.
It’s also clear from some of Kevin O’Connell’s comments last season that some or all of McCarthy’s issues are more pronounced in games than they are in practice. All that makes it more incumbent on McCarthy to show mastery of these things in OTAs to earn first-team reps in training camp. For a first-round pick entering his third year and competing for a starting job, these things need to be automatic. Working on them is something that can be done with the second or third team as a backup.
Hopefully all the time McCarthy spent working on fundamentals with his longtime quarterback coach this offseason will yield positive results. But those positive results need to be on display early and often in OTAs if McCarthy is to compete for the starting job. Otherwise competition for the starting job may be over before it begins.
The Future is Now for McCarthy
Showing out at OTAs is essential if McCarthy is going to compete against Kyler Murray for the starting job. Only by doing so can he earn enough training camp reps with the first team to really make it a competition. And if that doesn’t happen, it may prove to have been McCarthy’s last opportunity to be a starter for the Vikings and may complicate his ability to compete for a starting job with another team too.
If Kyler Murray wins the starting job and has a good season, it’s unlikely the Vikings will let him go like they did Sam Darnold. They’ve already expressed interest in a longer term deal with Murray, and have been preparing for the salary cap hit for a Kyler Murray extension, which would likely be in the second-tier among starting quarterback salaries, depending on just how well he plays.
That would leave McCarthy with no path to be a starter with the Vikings, but also would raise more questions for other teams looking to add starter-level competition to their QB room. Teams may be more wary of McCarthy as a viable starter if he couldn’t make it under Kevin O’Connell and Josh McCown and with all the weapons the Vikings have on offense.
McCarthy a Bit Salty, Motivated
In his first press conference since Kyler Murray was signed, McCarthy seemed more salty than his normal demeanor since he was drafted. That’s an understandable difference since last year at this time, when he was the unchallenged QB1. McCarthy talked about “organizational decisions” regarding signing Kyler Murray and focusing on what he can control, continuing to work hard at getting better, and an impersonal assessment of what it’s like working/competing with Murray, but with a notable edge that wasn’t there before. There was more than a whiff of betrayal in McCarthy’s comments about “organizational decisions” but also a competitive energy as he talked about what he is doing to get ready and his own motivation and confidence.
Overall, I suspect the Vikings’ coaching staff and front office staff were elated with McCarthy’s attitude and motivation to prove them wrong. The new edge to McCarthy would only seem to confirm, however, that Kevin O’Connell and company were right in thinking that competition would only help McCarthy’s development.
We’ll see.
McCarthy Needs to at Least Show Noticeable Improvement
It’s possible that McCarthy shows improvement but not enough to win the starting job. This is the most likely scenario in my view. But showing noticeable improvement at every opportunity- OTAs, training camp, preseason, and any game time he gets whether due to injury or mop-up duty- is a must if McCarthy wants to continue to be viewed as a potential starter. That could make for a tricky decision for the Vikings down the road or it could give him a shot at starting for another team in a year or two. But if he continues to struggle with fundamentals, McCarthy may also struggle to find another opportunity to be a starter.
For now, McCarthy is splitting first-team reps with Kyler Murray in OTAs. I haven’t seen the exact split, but both are getting some first-team reps.
The competition begins.