When the Minnesota Vikings signed Sam Darnold after spending 2023 with the San Francisco 49ers, it felt like a classic case of a bridge QB.
Sure, Darnold has starting experience, collegiate pedigree, and is somehow only 27, but he's only had one winning season as a pro, and that Jets season is more notable for the USC product declaring that he was “seeing ghosts” on Monday Night Football than for leading New York to a 7-6 record as a starter. Even if Darnold opened up Week 1 as the Vikings' starter, many fans assumed he would eventually be replaced by whichever quarterback the team drafted in the first round, so no harm, no foul.
And yet, in an interview with the NFL Network on Inside Training Camp, Kevin O'Connell wasn't so quick to simply hand off the reigns to his shiny new signal caller, J.J. McCarthy, but he instead detailed how to split up the reps at camp with Darnold earning the right to the first team reps due to his pedigree.
“I'm always going to do whatever I think is best for the team to give us the best chance to win, while also understanding that the journey for a young quarterback in this league — and I'm really talking about both Sam and J.J. McCarthy — is really defined in a lot of ways by things outside of their control,” Kevin O'Connell told the NFL Network. “I think we set up a plan to give both those guys a ton of reps throughout training camp. I did feel like Sam, through his work in the spring and where he's at in his career, earned the right to have the bulk of the first-team reps early on, but we've got a plan to get J.J. some reps as well.”
Surprising? Eh, not really, as again, the whole point of a bridge quarterback is to hold things down as a starter until a younger player is ready to play, but should O'Connell only be taking snaps with the second team, instead of showing off what he can do with the likes of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson? Well, the Vikings head coach had plenty to say on that question, too, as it's not as much of a first-team-second-team dynamic as some fans might expect.
The Vikings' defense is a good challenge for J.J. McCarthy
Normally, fans want to see their team's starting quarterback get in work with the 1s in training camps, as developing chemistry with top wide receivers, with running backs, and even with a team's center is incredibly important to the overall effectiveness of an offense.
While O'Connell surely feels that way as well, he also likes the idea of McCarthy going up against the Vikings' first-team defense, as if the Michigan product can put in work against one of the better defenses in the NFL, he will be able to succeed against any other team in the NFL too.
“Listen, I'm so excited about J.J. McCarthy,” O'Connell noted. “He's confirmed in every possible way what we had hoped and really proven in a lot of ways early on to be even more than we hoped from the standpoint of the type of person and player we brought in. That leads to the practice field where he gets to play against Brian Flores' defense every day and have a true learning environment right in front of our very eyes.
“It's the same thing for Sam. He's been on a journey from the time he was the third overall pick in the draft. Different spots, different offenses, and systems along the way. I think Sam's in a great spot in his career to have a chance to be the best version of himself with guys like Justin (Jefferson), Jordan (Addison), and T.J. (Hockenson) around him, our offensive line, continuity up front and just our entire team, the way it comes together, hopefully playing good football, staying true to who we want to be and how we want to win games.”
Despite being a consensus first-round pick heading into the draft, with teams like the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders certainly willing to draft the Michigan Wolverine if he didn't come off the board at pick 10, McCarthy really is one of the rawer prospects to enter the NFL this year at quarterback, as he was rarely relied on for his passing heroics while playing under Jim Harbaugh. If McCarthy can spend a few months working on reading and attacking NFL defenses, it could serve as a major benefit for his career long-term.
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