Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and government vice chairman of soccer operations Rob Brzezinski each spoke with reporters on the NFL Scouting Mix on Tuesday a couple of handful of subjects, together with the way forward for younger quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Most notably, neither O’Connell nor Brzezinski appeared keen to maintain McCarthy within the beginning position for Week 1 of the 2026 season.
Have Vikings’ emotions on J.J. McCarthy modified?
“It is simply the timeline is in a unique place for all of us than it was at that time,” O’Connell mentioned about referring to McCarthy as “our franchise quarterback” in August 2024, per Kevin Seifert of ESPN. “And I’ve a accountability — we’ve a accountability collectively as we put collectively this staff — to make it possible for we use the information that we’ve presently and the experiences we’ve, the sentiments that we have had at totally different occasions as a corporation.”
A 2024 first-round draft alternative, McCarthy spent his complete rookie season recovering from a full meniscus repair. Accidents then
limited him to simply 10 begins, a few of which have been removed from spectacular, this previous season.
Tales shared all through the winter have linked the Vikings with quarterbacks akin to Aaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Mac Jones of the San Francisco 49ers. It appears to be a lock that neither can be requested to compete for the beginning job with McCarthy, and Vic Tafur of The Athletic just lately mentioned that the Vikings are amongst golf equipment “anticipated to make large affords for” Jones. Jones signed a two-year contract with the 49ers final March, and he then went 5-3 throughout eight begins.
Vikings will “discover each alternative” to improve at quarterback
“What we do know is we want a degree of baseline quarterback play for us to be efficient,” Brzezinski added on Tuesday. “A number of this has been J.J. in unlucky [situations] with a few of the accidents and issues that he is handled, however we’ll discover each alternative, and I do not assume there’s something particularly we’re searching for. We won’t manufacture something that is not there. So, No. 1, what are the choices? Is it reciprocal? Is it financially doable? All these issues. There’s simply a whole lot of components that go into it.”
The Vikings might not be prepared to completely surrender on McCarthy simply but, nevertheless it actually appears like he might enter his third professional season as a full-time backup for a more-proven commodity.
