Minnesota Vikings, J.J. McCarthy
Getty
(Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
After sitting out multiple games with an ankle injury, J.J. McCarthyis set to return as the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. His timing couldn’t be better, with Carson Wentz sidelined for the rest of the 2025 NFL season following a shoulder injury.
The Vikings will look to McCarthy to lead them to a Week 9 victory over the Detroit Lions and keep their playoff hopes alive in the NFC. Staying healthy will be key, as Minnesota probably wants to evaluate whether McCarthy has what it takes to be their franchise quarterback moving forward.
While the second-year quarterback could feel pressure on him to justify the Vikings’ decision to let Sam Darnold walk, former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner had an honest take on the young signal-caller.
“I think there’s a lot of transition going on here that we need to understand, but it’s hard to grasp because all we want to look at is a 14-win team and a quarterback who played there last year, lighting it up in Seattle,”Warner said on the October 29 edition of “The Rich Eisen Show.” “Did Minnesota make the wrong decision? Let’s just give him some time.
“Maybe he plays like Drake Maye does next year, in his second year [as a starter] with the team, and now we’re forgetting about all of that—it doesn’t really matter. I think he was against the eightball from the start. He’s got room to grow and a ways to go before we can really know who he’s going to be at this level.”
Is the Pressure J.J. McCarthy Is Facing Unfair?
Nonetheless, Warner acknowledges why there’s pressure on McCarthy due to the Vikings coming off a 14-win 2024 season. Still, he deems that situation unfair for the Minnesota quarterback.
“There is pressure on him because ofall the things that I talked about,“ Warner added. “And to me, it’s undue pressure to expect him to step in in his first year andjust pick up where Sam Darnold left off last year. But that’s how we’re going to continue to look at it. One way or another, whether J.J. becomes a great player or not, right now this is the narrative.
“If he doesn’t become a great player in this league, we’re going to look back at this moment and talk about what Minnesota did and did they make the right—and all of those different things. But I just feel like he’s in a really, really tough spot and was from the get-go this year because any first-year starting quarterback to have that kind of pressure on him is just an unfair proposition.”
Vikings’ Justin Jefferson Talks J.J. McCarthy
Before the second-year quarterback’s matchup with the Lions, wide receiver Justin Jefferson met with the media on October 30 to share his thoughts on having the young QB back leading the offense.
“Looks good,“Jefferson told reporters.“Just going through the plays, going through the motions, dialing up the connection, and, of course, expanding the relationshipthat we have out there on the field. So it’s been great.I feel like he has the confidence to go out there and do what we expect him to do.
“It’s just all about having that energy and thinking about one play at a time—not thinking about the big play, making the best play of the game, or being perfect throughout the game. It’s just all about taking one play at a time, leaning on everybody in the offense to go to work, and just lead us. And that’s pretty much the main message to him.”