Despite the potential for the Vikings' new starting quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, not every question has been answered about the young second-year player from Michigan.
After the Vikings selected him in the first round, McCarthy only got to play in one game in the preseason before suffering a season-ending injury. This offseason has been swarmed with who Minnesota would roll with at quarterback: McCarthy, Sam Darnold, or Aaron Rodgers.
Darnold departed for the Seattle Seahawks, and Rodgers remains unsigned, but appears to be attached at the hip to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Vikings' leadership has backed up McCarthy as the starting quarterback, even though he still must earn the job.
Now that McCarthy has been tabbed as the starter, have all concerns been raised, or are there more questions to be answered?
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy
© Brad Rempel-Imagn Images
NFL.com columnist Jeffri Chadiha shared his one burning question about each NFC team entering the 2025 NFL Draft. His question for the Vikings was towards their new signal caller: “Is J.J. McCarthy going to deliver on all that promise?”
“There have been a lot of questions hovering around McCarthy in recent weeks, all of which revolve around the same issue: Is he ready to be the Vikings' franchise quarterback?”
“Even though McCarthy missed his rookie season after sustaining a torn meniscus in preseason, he impressed the Vikings with his leadership, athleticism and ability to learn fast. It's also fair to assume he's poised to succeed because he'll blessed with the same variables that helped Sam Darnold thrive last season, including a strong supporting cast and coaches who excel at maximizing the talents of their quarterbacks. The Vikings took McCarthy high for a reason. It would be shocking if he did anything to screw up his chance to prove he was worth the investment.”
McCarthy gave fans a sample in the preseason as he completed 11 of 17 passes for 188 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Before Minnesota, he lit it up in college as he led the Wolverines to a national title in 2023 after completing a Big Ten-leading 72.3% of his passes for 2,991 yards and 22 touchdowns to just four interceptions in 15 games.
There is a legitimate reason to ask the question, as the Vikings don’t have the best recent history of drafting quarterbacks in the first round. The last two to be selected in round one were Teddy Bridgewater in 2014 and Christian Ponder in 2011, with both flaming out of Minnesota within the first four years.
That burning question won’t be answered until the 2025 season kicks off, so it will be asked for months leading up to the new year.
