The Minnesota Vikings took an Almighty swing by replacing Sam Donald with J.J. McCarthy at the quarterback position. After leading them to 14 wins and finishing in the top five in passing yards and touchdowns, Darnold seemed like a likely choice to remain the starter in Minnesota. However, head coach Kevin O’Connell was dead set on the 2024 first-round draft pick taking over the reins of the franchise.
In Week 1 of the preseason, we saw our first taste of action from the youngster. Moving into Week 2, though, there was a genuine doubt. As a young quarterback without any in-game experience, would O’Connell change his strategy to give him more playing time to get accustomed to the league? Or would he maintain his traditional approach in lieu of avoiding any setbacks or injuries?
Will J.J. McCarthy and Key Vikings Starters Play Against the Patriots?
Last week, in a showdown with the Houston Texans, McCarthy got a small amount of playing time, tallying 30 yards while completing four of his seven passing attempts. He also showed some running chops with eight yards on his solitary rushing attempt.
Despite his limited action as an NFL player, O’Connell isn’t willing to risk injuries ruining another year of the youngster’s career. As a result, he officially made it clear that McCarthy and most of the rest of the starting unit wouldn’t suit up against the New England Patriots.
Instead, it will be Sam Howell, who threw for 105 yards on an ultra-efficient 11 completed passes on 13 attempts last week, taking over the QB1 role against New England. The explanation from O’Connell was rather straightforward.
As the official website for the Vikings revealed, “We were able to do some things that we would do in a regular season, game planning an opponent, trying to do some things that make sense from a rhythm, timing, spacing standpoint.”
Head Coach Kevin O’Connell announces J.J. McCarthy will not play Saturday and Sam Howell will get the start.
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 14, 2025
However, he still gave a bunch of credit to the players on the roster for taking full advantage of the opportunity the joint practice presented. “But that’s all on the players to then absorb that, and specifically J.J., to go out there and execute the way he did. It felt decisive.”
Going a step further, he had more positives to take away from last year’s first-round selection. “It felt [like an] incredible amount of conviction to some of the decisions he made, location of the football, and a lot to build on.”
As he watches from the sidelines, his first game as an NFL starter isn’t far away. The Packers kick off their 2025 season in a Divisional matchup against the Chicago Bears in what might be a very good test for McCarthy against the first overall pick from his draft class, Caleb Williams.
