After winning 14 games in 2024 and coming just shy of walking away as the one-seed in the NFC, the Minnesota Vikings made a massive change this offseason. Rather than bringing back Sam Darnold, they are instead taking a chance on last year’s first-round pick, J.J. McCarthy.
However, with zero NFL snaps under his belt, McCarthy’s readiness to start in Week 1 has sparked plenty of debate. As such, there are a lot of debates about his viability as an NFL-caliber starter right from the get-go. According to one analyst, though, there is a pathway to success for the 22-year-old Michigan product.
ESPN Analyst Believes McCarthy Can Be Ready by September
McCarthy came into the league after a three-year run at Michigan that saw him lead the Wolverines to a College Football Playoff national championship, their first since 1997, alongside three-straight Big Ten Division titles under his stewardship. The young quarterback finished his college career with an impressive 27-1 record as a starter.
McCarthy’s poise and talent earned him a selection as the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, the year Darnold had last season put McCarthy’s status as the franchise quarterback up in the air. Aside from leading the Vikings to 14 wins, Darnold’s numbers were excellent as well, earning him consideration for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award.
Putting up the fifth-most passing yards (4,319) and touchdowns (35) in the league, Darnold flipped the script on his career. Even so, head coach Kevin O’Connell has decided to hand the reins to McCarthy, perhaps in part due to the Vikings’ disappointing performance in the 2025 NFL playoffs.
In a game Darnold later said they “laid an egg as an offense”, the Vikings lost to the Los Angeles Rams, 27-9, in brutal fashion, despite the Rams winning four fewer games than Minnesota during the regular season.
As a result, McCarthy is taking over the starting role for O’Connell. While expectations are tempered for a quarterback taking the field for the first time as a full-time starter, ESPN’s Dan Graziano, who was making an appearance on “NFL Live,” had a different perspective on the second-year quarterback’s development.
“They don’t want him to focus on the pressure he’s under,” Graziano said. “They want him to focus on the process. Is he ready to start right now? Probably not. Can he be the first weekend in September? The Vikings believe he can.”
McCarthy’s Development Has Organization Encouraged
Graziano added that McCarthy was as far along as he could be at this point in the year, given that he missed his entire rookie season with a torn meniscus. He emphasized that the Wolverines product’s focus has been on improving throughout the offseason after losing valuable development time due to injury.
“That’s what the offseason has been about, a lot of learning, a lot of putting the lessons into practice,” Graziano said.
“Is [J.J. McCarthy] ready to start right now? Probably not. Can he be the first weekend in September? The Vikings believe that he can.”@DanGrazianoESPN talks about J.J. McCarthy’s development with the Vikings ✍️ pic.twitter.com/5IbHid9DGi
– NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) June 23, 2025
The Vikings organization appears confident in their decision to move forward with McCarthy despite his lack of NFL experience. The team has surrounded him with elite talent, including superstar receiver Justin Jefferson, who has been actively participating in offseason workouts to help build chemistry with the young quarterback.
As McCarthy continues to focus on his development, Graziano sounds confident that the 22-year-old could be ready for NFL action by the time the 2025 season rolls around. Still, after Darnold’s resurgent 2024 campaign that saw him sign a lucrative contract with the Seattle Seahawks this offseason, it remains to be seen if the Vikings’ gambit will pay off, both in the short and the long term.
