The Minnesota Vikings will play against the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday afternoon, in their first of three 2024 preseason games. It’s highly unlikely JJ McCarthy is the first quarterback to take the US Bank Stadium field in purple this weekend.
That’ll almost certainly be Sam Darnold. He was listed as QB1 on the team’s first “unofficial” depth chart of the preseason, released Tuesday. The 27-year-old , 6-year NFL veteran was signed over the offseason to help keep the Vikings’ offensive carriage on the road, for as long as needed.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old rookie will incubate naturally, under the watchful eye of QB guru head coach, Kevin O’Connell. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see plenty of JJ McCarthy this weekend.
Plenty of JJ McCarthy coming up vs Raiders?
KOC didn’t give much away, when speaking with media on Tuesday, as to how he plans on splitting up snaps between QBs. The head coach said he’d divulge more of that information on Thursday. That’s the next time he is scheduled to meet with reporters.
But according to what Dane Mizutani (Pioneer Press) told Brandon Mileski (KFAN) on the radio Monday , “you’ll get a lot of JJ McCarthy run [Saturday], I think.”
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This isn’t surprising. Of course, O’Connell wants to bring McCarthy along slowly and ease him into life as an NFL player. At the same time, JJ is a competitor. And now, he competes for a living. So you have to let the kid compete. No doubt he wants to be on the field as much as possible.
How long will Minnesota Vikings play JJ McCarthy, Sam Darnold?
How much will we see the rookie Saturday? We’ll get a better idea, on Thursday, but I would imagine he gets at least half of the contest. Kevin O’Connell and Sam Darnold will have small, very specific and intentional goals for the QB1, on Saturday.
As soon as he hits those marks, the Vikings will want to get Sam off the field, as to not risk injury. At most, that would mean Darnold plays the entire first half, but that feels like too much.
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Whenever Sam is removed from the game, whether that’s in the 2nd quarter or 2nd half, the Minnesota Vikings will go to McCarthy. They are well aware of what Nick Mullens is made of. Even if Nick ends up being named QB2 for week 1 of the regular season, that won’t be the case Saturday. After Darnold, it’ll be McCarthy who comes in vs Vegas.
Will that be in the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter…. 3rd quarter? I’d throw a dart somewhere into the 2nd quarter and feel pretty good about anywhere I land. At the latest we’ll see our future franchise quarterback to start the 2nd half.
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