Get ready for more of this until a starter is named
It's just the way its going to be (got to be) at this stage of the off-season...
I also wonder if Frank Smith will be one of those under the radar coaching hires that can make an impact?
================================
PHOENIX – An air of satisfaction hung over Vikings brass early this week at the NFL’s annual league meeting.
That’s deserved, at least for now. In the month since the last league-wide gathering, the NFL scouting combine, they achieved exactly what they said they wanted to at the quarterback position, even with salary cap constraints: build a competitive room from which a bona fide, 17-game starter can emerge.
In March, they added Kyler Murray the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, at a league minimum price tag. And they re-signed veteran Carson Wentz, who was the fill-in starter last season until injured.
The Vikings say they still believe in developing youngsters J.J. McCarthy, who ran the team at the start of the 2025 season, and Max Brosmer, who was thrown into the fire as an undrafted free-agent rookie.
“That blend is going to be great in the room,” Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf said Monday, March 30. “Both experience and development, and talent on all fronts. It’s a great situation to have, and we’re going to come out a lot better for it.”
The Vikings would prefer, as coach Kevin O’Connell has said more than once, to have to start only one quarterback in a season instead of three or four. After a cheeky comment following Murray’s signing that a starter didn’t need to be named in March, O’Connell said Monday that it’s too early to even begin thinking about how reps are divided in the lead-up to the season.
His approach in the next phase of the calendar, organized team activities starting in late May, centers on “learning and teaching.”
O’Connell said he expects OTAs will include the full group of receivers, including Justin Jefferson, who had a voice in the quarterback discussions this offseason as the Vikings’ franchise player. Jefferson attended OTAs in full last year, too, as the Vikings looked to build his chemistry with McCarthy.
Getting every quarterback a high amount of reps with every member of that receiving group and the rest of the offense is more important to O’Connell than funneling them all to a potential No. 1.
“You can’t go into it with a mindset of trying to elevate your quarterback room and get as many talented players as you can in there and then start carving out the reps in March,” O’Connell said. “It really doesn’t work like that.”
It helps, then, that the four QBs are already spending time in Minnesota working together and establishing rapport.
Murray, whose signing last month comes after seven years living in Arizona while with the Cardinals, is in town a few days a week. The two-time Pro Bowl choice and former Heisman Trophy winner is the presumed 2026 starter. It’s hard to imagine the outcome any other way, with the Cardinals paying the bulk of his $36.8 million salary (the Vikings are paying him the league minimum $1.3 million) after he chose Minnesota as the place to try to rejuvenate his career.
The one obstacle could be Murray struggling to pick up O’Connell’s scheme, though that seems unlikely, too. The 28-year-old’s football IQ and recall have been lauded by members of the organization. Additionally, O’Connell seems open to adapting his offense to fit some of Murray’s skill set and previous experience, particularly as an elusive runner.
The Vikings coach also brought in Frank Smith as assistant head coach ahead of Murray’s signing to help adapt the Vikings’ running game and evolve the overall offense.
“I see a lot of ways that we’ll be able to continue the evolution of our offense here in Year 5, but at the same time, principles that I believe Kyler will be able to not only make his own but provide different layers to what we do with some of his experiences,” O’Connell said.
McCarthy, meanwhile, returned recently from training in Southern California with former NFL QB and 3DQB trainer John Beck. O’Connell said he believes McCarthy gained “perspective” through his 10 starts last season, but the Vikings would still like to see a level of consistency from McCarthy on and off the field that they didn’t quite get in 2025.
That is as much a reason for their building out of the quarterback room as anything else: giving McCarthy room to develop and ample resources to help him do so.
The Vikings seem to have a better plan in place than they did before last season, although Wentz is recovering from a season-ending shoulder injury.
Does Murray have the smarts and talent to be the key to the Vikings’ first playoff win five years into O’Connell’s tenure?
“We feel really good about the combination of depth, talent and the fact that we’ve got a room that’s going to push each other,” O’Connell said. “All those guys are gonna have great offseasons and be ready to rock and roll.”
Strib
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
purplefaithful wrote:
Why all the angst?Everyone needs to take a deep breath and quit being PO'd.
Hell, this isnt politics (thx god) and probably not as devisive as the Pepp discussions back in the day, or Tarvaris...
Man, we’ve officially entered “breaking down body composition from a 10-second Yankees clip” territory ?
If JJ shows up throwing dots, nobody’s gonna care if he’s 205 or 225. Until then, I’m not losing sleep over his offseason physique like we’re prepping him for a bodybuilding show.
Let’s at least wait for camp before we start scouting his rib cage. ?
IceRatz16 wrote:
I assume, MB, that your question was just rhetorical and a joke and JR you are just throwing fuel on the fire with those dumb comments (and your continued hatred for McCarthy)...maybe you both should start rumors about McCarthy being courted by the Jets or Giants as that would be more believable.
Are you serious? You are completely ridiculous to call me out on something that was obviously a joke in regards to the comment about his mechanics. You are the one with the hate and the agenda here. As far as him looking thin, he does. Your constant BS is tiring.
JR44 wrote:
Are you serious? You are completely ridiculous to call me out on something that was obviously a joke in regards to the comment about his mechanics. You are the one with the hate and the agenda here. As far as him looking thin, he does. Your constant BS is tiring.
I am serious...are you?
You can call it a “joke,” but it’s always something with you when it comes to JJ and that’s the point.
Mechanics, weight, whatever the topic is that day… it’s constant. So yeah, I called it out. If you don’t like it, maybe take a look at the pattern.
It was a 10-second clip at a Yankees game and somehow it turns into critique season. That’s what’s ridiculous.
StickierBuns wrote:
LMAO. You guys and his weight, it's hilarious. You realize the guy below weighs about 190 lbs soaking wet holding a cement block? And check out those mechanics! :cool:
Why does one have anything to do with the other? God, I'm so fucking sick of these polarized agendas. Just tell the TRUTH, whatever that is, say it. My truth is that JJ lost a bunch of weight after his knee injury. He's had almost two years to put the weight back on and then some, but he kinda looks the same, if not thinner. Maybe the video is misleading. Maybe it's the clothes. Maybe I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. But you're not surprised at how thin he looks in that video? Just tell the truth. It will set you free.
“A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't." - Tom Waits
IceRatz16 wrote:
I am serious...are you?
You can call it a “joke,” but it’s always something with you when it comes to JJ and that’s the point.
Mechanics, weight, whatever the topic is that day… it’s constant. So yeah, I called it out. If you don’t like it, maybe take a look at the pattern.
It was a 10-second clip at a Yankees game and somehow it turns into critique season. That’s what’s ridiculous.
You are obviously really angry about something and projecting it here, so why not go address what is really bothering you in your life instead of taking it out on others.
It was all in good fun and you have now turned this thread into some kind of political thread. Go deal with your anger.
JR44 wrote:
You are obviously really angry about something and projecting it here, so why not go address what is really bothering you in your life instead of taking it out on others.
It was all in good fun and you have now turned this thread into some kind of political thread. Go deal with your anger.
Not angry at all, just calling out what I see and apparently it struck a nerve.
I’m not sure how anything I said was “political”...that feels like a stretch.
If you guys want to keep breaking down a 10-second clip like it’s game film, go for it, but I have every right to call BS and think it’s a bit over the top.
I’ll stick to judging him when there’s actual football to watch.
JJM is obviously a polarizing issue for Viking fans. But it really doesn't help to label other people because your pov and theirs don't line up.
Some think JJM is going to succeed. I don't think he has a future in the NFL beyond maybe being a backup. But that has nothing to do with "hate" and labeling with that term just triggers people and causes conversation to devolve into pointless bickering.
For all I know he's a nice young man and regardless I have no reason to hate him. I just don't think he's going to be a great NFL QB. That's my opinion and yours can be different. And we can have a difference of opinion without labeling or name-calling. At least that's my hope. :huh: :angel:
Yep, and McCarthy being a hockey guy, I imagine he was thrilled, like most hockey fans and some Americans, to watch the men and women win Gold recently that celebrating and spending time with his friend(s) and fellow AMERICAN hockey guys was a logical thing.
Yeah, JJ isn't going to stop being JJ for anyone. He was on the road to being a really good hockey prospect but had to choose one sport and football won. I had to chuckle when a few Vikings fans online were complaining that McCarthy wore a White Sox hat to the collegiate hockey playoffs a week or so ago....its like, the dude is going to get another shot outside of Minnesota. He grew up in the Chicago 'burbs, so of course he's going to grow up being a fan of Chicago sports. And these same few fans whining about that are the ones dogging him nonstop on social media, lol.
Now, maybe it's the angle, maybe it's the clothes, because I think the other kid is supposed to be a hockey player of some kind, and he looks just as fragile, so maybe it's nothing.
LMAO. You guys and his weight, it's hilarious. You realize the guy below weighs about 190 lbs soaking wet holding a cement block? And check out those mechanics! :cool:
[img]https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1348754631-1-e1635188683673.jpg[/img]
comet52 wrote:
JJM is obviously a polarizing issue for Viking fans. But it really doesn't help to label other people because your pov and theirs don't line up.Some think JJM is going to succeed. I don't think he has a future in the NFL beyond maybe being a backup. But that has nothing to do with "hate" and labeling with that term just triggers people and causes conversation to devolve into pointless bickering.
For all I know he's a nice young man and regardless I have no reason to hate him. I just don't think he's going to be a great NFL QB. That's my opinion and yours can be different. And we can have a difference of opinion without labeling or name-calling. At least that's my hope. :huh: :angel:
Disagreements are part of the deal, that’s why we’re here.
But let’s not pretend pointing out a consistent negative lean is “name-calling.” If the shoe fits, people tend to get defensive about it.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I just don’t see the need to dissect every little clip like it’s breaking news.
We’ll find out soon enough when there’s actual football to judge.
This thread is funny. At the end of the day, what does any of this change?
We will either have Tiny Tim that throws away more games than the 1993 Wolverines or we have Skelator who is a bust. There ya go.
QBs aren't putting on extra weight these days. Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, etc all slimmed down jn recent years. Stafford was on a Breaking 50 episode with Bryson Dechambeau last year and they were talking about playing weight vs performance. Stafford said he came into the league trying to keep his weight around 240 because he thought he needed that to withstand the hits in the NFL. He said in the past 5+ years he's shed the extra to get himself down to around 215-220 lbs. Says he feels way better and feels like his performance is better at a lighter, more natural weight.
When I look at JJ McCarthy he doesn't look skinny to me. Even in the clip someone posted? He looks athletic. I'd rather have my QB at a strong, natural weight than a bloated size where he's adding extra weight and stress to his body that will likely lead to more injuries than playing at a more natural size for his tall frame. Kid is also 23 years old. He'll probably add an easy 10 lbs as he matures into his mid-late 20s.
This kid has gotten waaaaaay too much negative scrutiny from fans and the media. Not sure why either, he's a good kid and easy to root for.
Happy Easter
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MAD GAINZ wrote:
This kid has gotten waaaaaay too much negative scrutiny from fans and the media. Not sure why either, he's a good kid and easy to root for.
The whole weight thing was an over-reaction in this thread imo. Thats the way it goes on forums sometimes.
Honestly, I thought to myself that he looked thin in that clip too, b4 anything was ever posted on it.
Sure QB's always get scrutinized and get the glory too. He can handle it fine (I think). QB's have always been polarizing here for one reason or another. JJ is just the latest.
I agree he's an easy kid to root for. He's also dug himself a hole after last season and has to work out of that.
Interesting dual truths.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
This thread is funny. At the end of the day, what does any of this change?
We will either have Tiny Tim that throws away more games than the 1993 Wolverines or we have Skelator who is a bust. There ya go.
lol, I laughed!
The elixir to re-galvanize the fanbase will be wins. Its the suave that heals all wounds.
This kid has gotten waaaaaay too much negative scrutiny from fans and the media. Not sure why either, he's a good kid and easy to root for.
Its a head scratcher. But I'm seeing a decent amount of fans online backing JJ now since the signing of Murray. Who knows, fans are fickle. But the scrutiny with McCarthy's weight has always been super funny to me personally.
MAD GAINZ wrote:
QBs aren't putting on extra weight these days. Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, etc all slimmed down jn recent years. Stafford was on a Breaking 50 episode with Bryson Dechambeau last year and they were talking about playing weight vs performance. Stafford said he came into the league trying to keep his weight around 240 because he thought he needed that to withstand the hits in the NFL. He said in the past 5+ years he's shed the extra to get himself down to around 215-220 lbs. Says he feels way better and feels like his performance is better at a lighter, more natural weight.When I look at JJ McCarthy he doesn't look skinny to me. Even in the clip someone posted? He looks athletic. I'd rather have my QB at a strong, natural weight than a bloated size where he's adding extra weight and stress to his body that will likely lead to more injuries than playing at a more natural size for his tall frame. Kid is also 23 years old. He'll probably add an easy 10 lbs as he matures into his mid-late 20s.
This kid has gotten waaaaaay too much negative scrutiny from fans and the media. Not sure why either, he's a good kid and easy to root for.
I thought you knew, Brother. We just signed a future HOFer that will bring us our first Lombardi this year. A massive deal is already a foregone conclusion.
All BS aside, JJ is getting too much scrutiny, I agree with you. Everyone fills out. His size isn't an issue but to those that have a hard on for Murray.
Let’s at least wait for camp before we start scouting his rib cage. ?
lol. Also, don't forget he had a bout of depression when his good friend died back in high school.....so we've also had a few 'mental fitness' alerts as concerns about JJM from a few fans which makes me laugh just as hard as his 'Ethiopian' physique. :rolleyes:
Fans are gonna fan, baby!
Canthony wrote:
All BS aside, JJ is getting too much scrutiny, I agree with you. Everyone fills out. His size isn't an issue but to those that have a hard on for Murray.
Curious what is all this scrutiny he is getting? Cause some said he looked thin?
He was the 10th pick in the draft, he has played 10 games in 2 years and when he has played he has played poorly. Does he not deserve any kind of criticism?
For all intent purposes take JJM off as a subject matter on this board, because apparently you will be ripped and ridiculed for saying anything that can be misconstrued as negative.
The emperor has no clothes........sorry.......scratch that :)
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