Before the 2024 draft, former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had plenty of glowing things to say about former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
So it’s no surprise that Jim Harbaugh had many positive things to say about McCarthy to Harbaugh’s brother, John, before John’s Giants traded for McCarthy.
“I mean, John called me and asked me,” Harbaugh told reporters on Wednesday. “I said, you know, John, I love you. I love J.J. I think you guys would be . . .’ so, really, I’m telling you the same thing that I told my brother.”
For whatever reason, things didn’t work for McCarthy in Minnesota. But they worked for McCarthy in Michigan. Maybe McCarthy responds better to the Harbaugh rah-rah style. Maybe McCarthy’s second act with the Giants will go better than his first NFL stint.
However it goes, McCarthy needed a fresh start. And playing for Jim Harbaugh’s brother may be the next best thing to playing for Jim Harbaugh.
Vikings Clips
Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson still has a chance to play on Sunday. But he won’t be on the field to start the practice week.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters in his press conference that Jefferson will not participate in Wednesday’s session.
But Jefferson remains day-to-day after suffering an ankle sprain during the Week 3 victory over the Buccaneers. O’Connell specifically said it’s not a high ankle sprain.
His status for Week 4 is uncertain, but Jefferson has not been ruled out.
Jefferson has caught 13 passes for 179 yards with two touchdowns so far in 2026.
O’Connell also noted Chuck Demmings and Brett Thorson will not practice on Wednesday.
Minnesota’s full injury report will be released later in the day.
Myles Price broke a long streak during Minnesota’s victory over Tampa Bay last week, and now the league is recognizing him for it.
Price has been named NFC special teams player of the week.
Price returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown. It was the first punt return for a TD league-wide in the 2026 season. But it was also the first time a Vikings player returned a punt for a score since October 2016.
It’s the second week in a row that Minnesota has earned a special teams player of the week award, as Isaiah Rodgers won it for his Week 2 field goal block in the club’s victory over Chicago.
Nine is no more. In more ways than one.
Giants quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who created a game-day alter ego he dubbed NINE after his jersey number, won’t be wearing it in New York.
Tight end Isaiah Likely has No. 9. Instead, McCarthy will wear No. 18.
Does it matter? For some players, it does. Still, it’s the thing that dehumanizes them. That makes them not known by their name or their likeness but by an interchangeable designation.
The unavailability of No. 9 in New York is a product of the recent liberalization of number assignments for skill-position players. Previously, single digits were the territory of quarterbacks and kickers. Now, they’re all over the field.
The Vikings signed outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy and quarterback Max Brosmer from their practice squad to their 53-player roster.
Brosmer’s promotion was previously reported.
Van Noy joined Minnesota’s practice squad before the season and was elevated for each of the first three games.
He has totaled seven tackles, including four for loss, and 1.5 sacks.
Minnesota also placed tight end Josh Oliver on injured reserve. He tore his biceps while blocking on a field-goal attempt Sunday.
Receiver Jeshaun Jones completed a three-game suspension by the NFL and reverted to the 53-player roster.
Minnesota also terminated the contract of punter Johnny Hekker, who signed to the Vikings’ practice squad last week before signing to the active roster on Saturday. Hekker filled in for undrafted rookie Brett Thorson, who injured his hamstring in Week 2.
Hekker punted eight times for 372 yards, averaging 46.5 yards and netting 41.5. He placed two inside the Buccaneers’ 20-yard line and booted a long of 63 yards. Hekker also cleanly held for two extra points and three field goals by Reichard, who has made 26 consecutive field goals.
Additionally, Minnesota signed outside linebacker Kenny Dyson, Jr. to its practice squad and released running backs Jerome Ford and Jaret Patterson and defensive lineman Jonathan Harris from its practice squad.
After the departure of J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings are bringing a third quarterback to their 53-man roster.
Per Tom Pelissero of Netflix, Minnesota is signing Max Brosmer to the active roster off of the club’s practice squad.
The move allows Brosmer to serve as the emergency third quarterback behind starter Kyler Murray and backup Carson Wentz.
Brosmer, 25, has been with the Vikings since signing with the club as an undrafted free agent last year. He appeared in seven games with two starts as a rookie, completing 66.2 percent of his passes for 328 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions.
The 3-0 Vikings will host the Dolphins in Week 4.
The Vikings have scrapped the J.J. McCarthy experience after the 2024 first-round pick made only 10 starts in two-plus seasons.
That adds McCarthy to a short list of first-round quarterbacks who, for whatever reason, didn’t last very long with the teams that drafted them.
Via Kevin Seifert of ESPN, Elias Sports Bureau identifies only four first-round quarterbacks in the past 25 years who started 10 or fewer games for the team that picked them.
Paxton Lynch, the 2016 first-round pick of the Broncos, started only four games in Denver. He never played in a regular-season game for any other team.
Trey Lance, for whom the 49ers traded up in 2021 to make the third overall selection, started only four games in San Francisco. (He has since made eight appearances with two starts for the Cowboys and Chargers.)
Johnny Manziel, a first-round pick of the Browns in 2014, started eight games in Cleveland. He never played for another NFL team.
McCarthy had exactly 10 starts with the Vikings. He won six of them. But the Vikings have opted to take a fifth-round pick in order to move on from him.
While it’s far less than the first-round pick plus more that they gave up to get him, it’s more than what they would have gotten if he’d been cut before the start of the 2026 season. Which seemed to be a real possibility in late August, especially after he slipped to third on the depth chart.
Either way, the Vikings pulled the plug. And now they’ll have to hope that McCarthy doesn’t become the latest second-act (or third-act) quarterback who becomes a star for someone else.
Sure, the Vikings would never say it out loud. They don’t need to. They know that the only thing that will make their McCarthy misadventures worse will be watching him become for someone else what the Vikings hoped he would be.
The Vikings are 3-0, but it isn’t because they have found an offensive groove so far this season.
In three weeks of work, they have managed to pick up a league-worst 715 yards and their passing game has been the least productive in the league. That didn’t stop them from trading quarterback J.J. McCarthy to the Giants on Monday and head coach Kevin O’Connell expressed confidence later in the day that starter Kyler Murray will be able to create better results with more time in the offense.
“Look, we’ve seen Kyler play 11 snaps in one game and played against a good defense on the road yesterday. There’s a lot of things beyond Kyler that we need to improve, including myself, and we’re going to do that, and we’re going to ascend as an offense,” O’Connell said, via the team’s website. “I believe in our guys. I believe in where we can get to as a team, and I just love the fact that collectively we’re able to come together and find a way to win football games.”
Things got particularly bleak for the Vikings in the second half in Tampa on Sunday as they gained 77 yards and picked up four first downs while turning the ball over once and punting four times. A game against the winless Dolphins this week gives the Vikings a chance to find some better footing and questions about when that will happen will get a bit more pointed if they continue to scuffle the way they did against the Buccaneers.
Justin Jefferson exited Minnesota’s victory over Tampa Bay with an ankle injury, but it sounds like he won’t be sidelined for long.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters on Monday that the team received good news on Jefferson after he underwent more tests.
“It’s an ankle sprain — avoided anything long-term,” O’Connell said. “It’s just going to be about progressing throughout the week and where we can get him to from the standpoint of getting the swelling out and then what kind of work week he can have. But was very encouraged to get that news today.”
Jefferson had a pair of receptions for 32 yards before exiting Sunday’s contest.
In three games this season, he has 13 catches for 179 yards with two touchdowns.
Hosting the Jets in Week 4, the Vikings’ first injury report of the week is due out on Wednesday.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell confirmed that tight end Josh Oliver is going to miss extended time during his Monday press conference.
Word on Monday morning was that Oliver tore his biceps during Sunday’s win over the Buccaneers and O’Connell announced that he will have surgery to repair the injury. O’Connell called Oliver a “big part” of the team’s offensive plans and that it will be up to multiple people to fill in for his absence.
Oliver played 55 percent of the snaps over the first three weeks of the season and had three catches for 46 yards. He’s been with the Vikings since 2023 and had 59 catches for 631 yards and nine touchdowns in his first three years with the club.
T.J. Hockenson and Gavin Bartholomew are the other tight ends on the active roster.
