2. McCarthy on the move
Reporters observing Wednesday's OTA session noted McCarthy's mobility, the QB seemingly unhindered by the meniscus injury that halted his rookie campaign last August.
O'Connell acknowledged McCarthy's progress and said it's a "credit to the work he's put in" ever since the injury occurred Minnesota's 2024 preseason opener.
"You guys have heard me say it throughout the offseason, but there's been a lot of lonely hours where it's him and the training staff and the strength staff, and just the work he's put in to get his body where he's at, his arm feeling the way it is, and then of course, coming off the injury, his lower body feeling as good as it does to move the way he's doing," O'Connell said. "But he looks great. He's feeling really good. Now we've gotta stack a lot of really good days of spring together."
O'Connell has told quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, "No stone unturned," when it comes to making sure McCarthy is fully up to speed.
"We can't assume that he knows any particular thing just based upon the meeting room. We've got to come out and organically feel exactly where he's at," he said. "I've told quarterbacks for a long time, meeting room, when you're studying things on your own, and then when you're in it, in the huddle, coming off of a play where, 'Shoot, I might have missed a protection call,' but that doesn't change the fact that there's another down coming, and another one and another one.
"I've been really surprised by some of the things that he does know. You're like, 'Man, we covered that in a 10-minute burst in Week 11 last year; how do you remember that?' And then there's some other things where you're like, 'Oh, I assumed he knew that,' " O'Connell continued. "So it's our job, baseline teaching and stacking days and layered learning, so that we're constantly making him feel like he's growing — but never comfortable. Never satisfied on any particular outcome, because we're building toward something much greater than just a single play here or there."