The quarterback position for the Minnesota Vikings has been a topic of discussion for the last few years. Half of the fanbase believed Kirk Cousins was the guy to take the Vikings over the top and the other half believed he should've been replaced much earlier.
Well, the Vikings ended up making the difficult change by letting Cousins go to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency and they replaced him with veteran Sam Darnold and rookie J.J. McCarthy who they selected at 10th overall.
With Sam Darnold, the Vikings can be patient with J.J. McCarthy
McCarthy has looked excellent so far during his training camp opportunities. It's a great sight to see for both the Vikings and the fanbase. However, it doesn't mean they have to rush him. Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer spent a day at Vikings' training camp and got the sense that their patience is real.
My sense is Sam Darnold is going to be the starting quarterback, for a few reasons. The first is that he’s really improved. He’s playing faster than he did earlier in his career, and the progress was evident to the Vikings going from his late 2022 tape in Carolina, to last year’s preseason with the 49ers, to the Christmas night cameo in Baltimore’s blowout of San Francisco (go back and watch that one). Playing for Ben McAdoo and Kyle Shanahan also gave Darnold a really good baseline for the transition to Kevin O’Connell’s system, and the decisiveness with which he’s playing now make that evident.
The second reason? While J.J. McCarthy’s arm talent, athleticism and intangibles have come as advertised, I believe O’Connell is going to be very disciplined about actually putting the rookie out there—this won’t be one of those situations where the team has a couple tough weeks, and they put him out there to try and create a spark. I also believe McCarthy, who’s reworking some things fundamentally (he’s cleaned up stuff with footwork), will benefit greatly from having a coach who’s prioritizing his development.
We've heard that before from many locally but hearing someone from the outside coming in and echoing that sentiment is a great sign for the Vikings. The organization seems very confident in trying to get this done the right way and it's so refreshing to see.
Related: Answering burning Minnesota Vikings questions: From Sam Darnold to T.J. Hockenson and Christian Darrisaw
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