Heading into the 2025 season, the Vikings plan to hand the reins over to first-round pick QB J.J. McCarthy . Minnesota HC Kevin O’Connell is thrilled with McCarthy’s physical status after a long rookie year rehabbing a knee injury.
“You guys have heard me say it throughout the offseason, but there’s been a lot of lonely hours where it’s him and the training staff and the strength staff, and just the work he’s put in to get his body where he’s at, his arm feeling the way it is, and then of course, coming off the injury, his lower body feeling as good as it does to move the way he’s doing,” O’Connell said, via Lindsey Young of the team’s website. “But he looks great. He’s feeling really good. Now we’ve gotta stack a lot of really good days of spring together.”
Although McCarthy hasn’t had a ton of on-field reps compared to other players in his draft class, O’Connell has been impressed by his memory and desire ot improve.
“I’ve been really surprised by some of the things that he does know. You’re like, ‘Man, we covered that in a 10-minute burst in Week 11 last year; how do you remember that?’ And then there’s some other things where you’re like, ‘Oh, I assumed he knew that.’ So it’s our job, baseline teaching and stacking days and layered learning, so that we’re constantly making him feel like he’s growing — but never comfortable. Never satisfied on any particular outcome, because we’re building toward something much greater than just a single play here or there.”