To this point, most Minnesota Vikings’ fans are aware that head coach Kevin O’Connell will not start J.J. McCarthy until he’s hit all the required benchmarks . The Minnesota Vikings’ brass has been preaching this from the moment they drafted him back in April. Despite the massive improvement from spring workouts to now, one thing is still holding him back from the starting quarterback job .
Back in June, a few of the Minnesota Vikings’ beat writers noted that McCarthy was really focusing on his footwork as well as reading defensive coverages at an NFL level. Both things that are easily fixable but take practice and repetition.
From the beginning of rookie minicamp to where we are now, McCarthy has improved his footwork but hasn’t perfected it when the pressure is on. Appearing at Minnesota Vikings’ Training Camp in early August, Dan Graziano (ESPN) noted that the Vikings’ coaches still notice that his footwork changes from 11-on-11 versus 7-on-7 drills.
For example, at this point, the Vikings’ coaches still notice that McCarthy’s footwork changes when he’s in live team drills with a pass rush from what it is when he’s in 7-on-7 drills. They need him to improve his feel and footwork in those situations.
Dan Graziano ( ESPN )
If you aren’t familiar with those drills, 11-on-11 is full speed reps with pass rush, while 7-on-7 has no pass rush but teaches the quarterback to read coverages. Pass rush changes how quarterbacks process things, and it seems like McCarthy is reverting back to his old footwork when the heat is on.
Footwork is hard to change but it is coachable and fixable. However, it takes time and continuous repetition. It’s hard to erase years worth of ingrained habits. That said, Graziano also noted that it’s not decided that Sam Darnold will open the season as the starter.
To reiterate: It is not decided that Darnold will open the season as the starter. But McCarthy has to keep clearing the specific developmental benchmarks O’Connell and the Vikings have set for him to prove he’s worthy of the top job or even the No. 2 spot ahead of Mullens in September.
Dan Graziano ( ESPN )
Yes, Darnold is the odds on favorite to open the season as the week one starter. That’s been the thinking since they picked up Darnold in free agency and paid him more than backup money. But to say that McCarthy has a zero percent chance of starting is foolish.
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Overall, McCarthy does have an uphill battle to be the week one starter against the New York Giants. Despite needing to continue to work on his footwork, there’s still plenty of time to prove himself. The Minnesota Vikings still have three preseason games as well as joint practices with the Cleveland Browns. We’re heading into the stretch where starters begin to separate themselves from the backups. Even if McCarthy doesn’t win the job over these next few weeks, he’s still the future of the at the quarterback position for this franchise.
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