The Minnesota Vikings are getting into the 2025 NFL season with a brand new beginning quarterback, their third distinctive starter in as many seasons.
Sam Darnold held it down final yr after Kirk Cousins moved on to the Atlanta Falcons, nevertheless it’s J.J. McCarthy’s time to shine in 2025.
Head Coach Kevin O’Connell and the entrance workplace put loads of religion in him once they used a first-round choose on him in 2024, hoping he’d pan out to be their quarterback of the long run.
McCarthy wasn’t in a position to get any tangible, on-field expertise final yr attributable to his damage within the preseason, however he did have an opportunity to sit down behind a veteran like Sam Darnold and choose up some worthwhile recommendation alongside the best way.
Some followers have tempered expectations for 2025 with that in thoughts, however analyst and former QB Dan Orlovsky believes that expectations must be excessive for McCarthy, which he famous through Darren Wolfson on KSTP.
“It’s completely okay for us to have unrealistically excessive expectations of how he’s going to play on this workforce. I actually imagine he ought to have production-wise, number-wise, very a lot rival what Sam did final yr,” Orlovsky mentioned.
“I actually imagine he ought to have … production-wise, number-wise…ought to very a lot rival what Sam did final yr…”@danorlovsky7 with @DWolfsonKSTP on Vikings QB JJ McCarthy
pic.twitter.com/xDE1s2oPyJ
— The Purple Persuasion (@TPPSkol) September 1, 2025
In Orlovsky’s thoughts, McCarthy already has the expertise of profitable a Nationwide Championship on the collegiate degree, and his rookie season of being sidelined shouldn’t be understated.
O’Connell and this teaching employees have been heralded for his or her work with Sam Darnold final yr, and if McCarthy’s expertise is something prefer it was in school, the Vikings’ offense could possibly be in an analogous place to what they have been final season.
It is going to be fascinating to see how this workforce fares over the subsequent few months, and McCarthy will get an ideal take a look at to show himself in Week 1 towards the Chicago Bears’ staunch protection.
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