Vikings have unique timeline for starting J.J. McCarthy over Sam Darnold

While it appears that Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell will allow rookie J.J. McCarthy to compete with veteran Sam Darnold for the starting quarterback job this summer, O’Connell sounds ready to sit McCarthy through the fall.

For a piece published on Friday, Kevin Seifert of ESPN revealed that O'Connell has "publicly and privately" said that McCarthy's timetable to start is "open-ended" ahead of the preseason.

"I want to be very clear that the expectation is for this player to not be perfect," O’Connell said about McCarthy. "He's going to have growing pains, he's going to learn on the fly. I'm not trying to remove that aspect of it, either, but (deciding when he will play) is not something you can write up on a board. It's a feeling."

The Vikings signed Darnold to be a bridge option at the position in March before they knew, for sure, they'd be able to move up a spot in this year's draft order to get McCarthy on the night of April 25. In-the-know individuals such as NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated and Alec Lewis of The Athletic have repeatedly said since the spring that Minnesota fans should expect Darnold to get the nod for Minnesota's Week 1 game at the New York Giants on Sept. 8.

Specifically, Breer felt in the middle of June that there was a "less than 10%" chance McCarthy could win the job in August.

"It's just more about what is in the best interest of the organization," O'Connell added about his quarterback decision. "Those circumstances cannot affect what J.J.'s development plan is or any other player on the team for that matter. It just can't be something that selfishly ever impacts that decision. That really won't change because, and I don't know if it's the former quarterback in me or not, but I do feel an obligation to have the best interests of not only J.J. but our entire team, at heart, when we make that decision."

On paper, the Vikings could use their Week 6 bye to prepare McCarthy to make his first regular-season start for the Week 7 home matchup versus the division-rival Detroit Lions on Oct. 20. O'Connell wants it known he's not yet thinking about such a scenario playing out, and it certainly seems as if the Minnesota coaching staff wants Darnold to lead the team to numerous victories so that McCarthy can continue to develop as a spectator.