JJ McCarthy - Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are in Indianapolis this week, along with just about every reporter, agent and team executive who matters around the league for the start of the 2026 NFL scouting combine.
Position groups won’t start working out until tomorrow but everyone has already been down there for a couple of days and teams began meeting with draft prospects at Lucas Oil Stadium today.
Unlike the previous four scouting combines, representatives from the MN Vikings organization — including head coach Kevin O’Connell — chose not to take the podium in Indy for general media sessions, instead opting for radio interviews on KFAN (Wednesday) and a non-recorded sit-down with local reporters Tuesday afternoon.
Minnesota Vikings say quiet QB part out loud
We don’t know the official reason for why KOC & interim top executive Rob Brzezinski opted out of their podium time this week, but you have to assume it was to avoid viral clips of either Vikings leader sweating through question/answer sessions about JJ McCarthy and/or Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Unfortunately for KOC and his kid QB, he didn’t do a very good job of protecting his young quarterback’s feelings, given the lengths they went through to avoid something like the below quote making the internet rounds, something Kevin Seifert (ESPN) reported from Indy today.
Kevin O'Connell today on if he still views J.J. McCarthy as a franchise QB: "A lot of those feelings are still the same. It's just the timeline is in a different place for all of us than it was [in 2024]."
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) February 24, 2026
O’Connell said Tuesday that he still thinks of McCarthy the same way but noted that the circumstances around him have changed.
“It’s just the timeline is in a different place for all of us than it was at that point,” O’Connell said. “And I have a responsibility — we have a responsibility collectively as we put together this team — to make sure that we use the data that we have at this time and the experiences we have, the feelings that we’ve had at different times as an organization.”
ESPN
Related: MN Vikings Open for Business This Offseason
Look, we all know the Minnesota Vikings are acting this offseason as if their quarterback timetable is no longer aligned with JJ McCarthy. And that makes sense, after the reality slapped them in the face like a five-foot 2×4 last season.
Nonetheless, this is really the first time that anyone inside the MN Vikings organization has articulated it in a way that makes their intentions clear, not just behind the scenes, but publicly.
What does this mean for the Vikings and JJ McCarthy in 2026?
Of course, it’s totally possible that JJ McCarthy shows up to TCO Performance Center this summer looking like a brand new quarterback. Depending on which verteran quarterback the Vikings ultimately bring it, it’s possible JJ’s starting days in Minnesota continue.
However, that reality feels further fetched with every day that goes by. And that is extremely important for the MN Vikings’ mission to bring stability to the quarterback position.
In separate interviews Tuesday at the NFL combine, neither Brzezinski nor O’Connell committed to keeping McCarthy in the starter’s role.
Brzezinski termed the process “casting a wide net” and said “I don’t think we’re ruling anything out” in terms of the level of player they ultimately acquire.
“What we do know is we need a level of baseline quarterback play for us to be effective,” Brzezinski said. “A lot of this has been J.J. in unfortunate [situations] with some of the injuries and things that he’s dealt with, but we’re going to explore every opportunity, and I don’t think there’s anything specifically we’re looking for.”
ESPN
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O’Connell’s fatal flaw last offseason was coming out on the wrong side of the needle they attempted to thread between keeping McCarthy and his representation happy/confident he’d have a chance to win the starting QB job vs making sure the Vikings had a rock-solid overall QB plan for 2025.
As history goes, that decision cost the Minnesota Vikings a chance at the playoffs — a mistake the organization has vowed to avoid in 2026.
Which is why there’s little doubt his comments Tuesday were a call to all available quarterbacks on the market that the Minnesota Vikings have accepted their current QB reality — that the team’s timeline is not in the same place as JJ McCarthy’s — and he’s looking for a new starter.
Still, I doubt O’Connell got the message across Tuesday as gently he’d hoped going in.
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