J.J. McCarthy (ankle) aiming to start preseason Week 3

The Vikings spent a lot of energy having a pretend quarterback competition between McCarthy and Kyler Murray this offseason, but at least it kept them fresh for this second pretend competition where McCarthy will push Wentz for second-team duties. McCarthy is an obvious trade candidate and it would be surprising if he was higher than the third-team quarterback to open the season in Minnesota. One of these quarterbacks is more reliable than the other and somehow that quarterback is Carson Wentz.

McCarthy appeared on four for series, playing on 18 snaps while going 5-for-10 passing for 81 yards. According to KOC, he would have preferred to play McCarthy longer, but the third-year QB “was a little hobbled,” which led to the decision to pull him. O’Connell said he expects McCarthy to be fine and will look to provide an update soon, but given some of the hits he took from the Ravens on Saturday, this news doesn’t come as much of a surprise. McCarthy will get one more look this preseason in next week’s game against the Broncos if he’s able to go.

McCarthy’s most impressive play came on a 50-yard strike downfield to Tai Felton. McCarthy threw a good ball to Felton, who went up to make the contested catch and put the Vikings in scoring position, but the drive would stall a few plays later, down inside the Ravens’ five-yard line. McCarthy would sail a throw high to Felton in the end zone on second and goal, and he missed Myles Price in the flat for a would-be touchdown on fourth and goal. McCarthy also faced considerable pressure from the Ravens defense and took one sack on the day. He was pulled after one quarter of play and will presumably draw the start in next week’s preseason finale against the Broncos next Friday.

With the Vikings naming Kyler Murray as the starter, McCarthy’s future in Minnesota is in question. The 23-year-old is entering his third season and still has plenty to work on, though losing the Week 1 starting job indicates his chances to start for the Vikings again are dwindling. When asked about his future, McCarthy stated he wants to be in Minnesota and will “continue to just do whatever [he] can for this team and this organization.” The room for error for young quarterbacks is thin in the NFL and though he is saying the right things to the media, McCarthy is a former first-rounder that may want to move on, should he have no future as a starter with the Vikings. He will start the season as the backup while the Vikings evaluate their quarterback room throughout the season; it wouldn’t be a surprise to see McCarthy depart Minnesota between now and this time next year.

Sure, Kev. McCarthy lost the starting competition and is entering the third year of his four-year rookie contract. If he’s going to have a major future as a quarterback in the league, he almost certainly needed to beat out Murray for the starting role or (still in play) get traded somewhere where he can play this year. We’ll see what happens, but it wouldn’t be surprising if McCarthy was traded. It also wouldn’t be surprising if McCarthy requested a trade.

Though the Vikings staged what appeared to be a (short-lived) quarterback competition between Murray and JJ McCarthy, the result was likely determined from the outset. Murray and McCarthy split first-team reps for much of the offseason and into training camp, with both QBs struggling at times. There was no way the Vikings were going to pay the steep price of acquiring Murray from the Cardinals only to sit him behind McCarthy. Murray as starter is probably good news for Justin Jefferson, who last season had one of the NFL’s lowest catchable target rates. Murray should be fine as a floor-based fantasy play in Kevin O’Connell’s offense. McCarthy should still be rostered in superflex formats behind the oft-injured Murray.

According to Seifert, the Vikings have given Murray “roughly two-thirds of the snaps with the first-team offense in 11-on-11 drills,” while J.J. McCarthy “has spent a significant portion of his summer working with the No. 2 offense.” While reports have been up and down on Murray thus far, Seifert also suggests the gap between Murray and McCarthy remains wide after the first two weeks of camp, saying that “no objective observer to training camp could say that (McCarthy) has made up the ground necessary to truly challenge Murray” this summer. There are still two weeks left to go in camp, but it sounds like McCarthy will need a lot to go right for him to get the nod for Week 1 against the Packers.

Per Lewis, Murray connected on a notable deep pass at one point, and ESPN’s Kevin Seifert also noted that Murray is pushing the ball downfield. Fellow Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy “spent more time with the No. 2 group” and attempted fewer downfield passes. If this is an indicator that Murray is pulling away, that’s a good thing. The sooner one quarterback begins taking all first-team reps the better.

We’ve done a lot of J.J. McCarthy blurbs this offseason and the vast majority of them from beats have McCarthy well behind Kyler Murray, while we also have a June quote from Kevin O’Connell saying “he doesn’t plan to take the competition until the end of camp.” It’s only the league-wide reporters who seem to give McCarthy much of a chance to win the job. Interesting coincidence, some would say.

While Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy are both expected to enter training camp in competition for the team’s QB1 role, it sounds like O’Connell would prefer to land on a decision sooner rather than later. Murray, by all accounts, appears to be the leader in the clubhouse to open the season as the starter, but McCarthy has received praise from teammates and coaches for his improvement as a passer and his ability to throw with a little more accuracy and touch. Currently going around the late ninth/early tenth round of best ball drafts, Murray could turn out to be a nice value if he wins the job and can return to the player who finished as a top-10 fantasy QB in fantasy points per game from 2020 to 2022 under KOC.