OTA Highlights

Well Nailor did stand out at OTAs last year, he has disapeared in Sep in the past...

That's gotta be nerve wracking for a kid barely 21 to be out there knowing EVERYONE in the bldg is scrutinizing everything.

OTA 2 Recap

purplefaithful wrote:
That's gotta be nerve wracking for a kid barely 21 to be out there knowing EVERYONE in the bldg is scrutinizing everything.

Thing is...  I don't think JJ really thinks about that.  He's a cool, confident kid.  I'm really happy we have Darnold to play this year so we can let him learn the offense, let him test his abilities, make his mistakes in practice against an improved Vikings defense, and be ready to rock whenever Kevin thinks he's ready to lead this team.

purplefaithful wrote:
That's gotta be nerve wracking for a kid barely 21 to be out there knowing EVERYONE in the bldg is scrutinizing everything.

He played 3 years for Harbaugh, beat Ohio State twice, went to 2 CFPs and won a national title. I don't think the thought of a coach yelling or somebody writing mean things is going to rattle him.

VikingOracle wrote:
OTA 2 Recap

"If he doesn't beat out Darnold, prove he's ready, and win the Week 1 starting job, he might remain the QB3 to start the regular season." 

This comment sparked some rage on Twitter. The truth is that it's very VERY unlikely McCarthy is going to beat out Darnold week 1. And no one should be surprised AT ALL if he starts the season as QB3. I actually expect him to.

MaroonBells wrote:

"If he doesn't beat out Darnold, prove he's ready, and win the Week 1 starting job, he might remain the QB3 to start the regular season." 

This comment sparked some rage on Twitter. The truth is that it's very VERY unlikely McCarthy is going to beat out Darnold week 1. And no one should be surprised AT ALL if he starts the season as QB3. I actually expect him to.

Everyone has a voice on social media.  I'm expecting JJ to be the QB3 as well if the Vikings truly plan to let him develop most (or all) of his rookie year.

I'm more interested in who will be the backup to start the season...  Mullens or Hall?  I mean JJ might be QB2 if he checks enough boxes prior to the start of the season.  I just think the Vikings want to avoid starting him too early so it's going to come down to whether Mullens or Hall can beat the other one out for QB2.  I don't think the Vikings necessarily want JJ being one concussion or injury away from playing early in the year.

MaroonBells wrote:

"If he doesn't beat out Darnold, prove he's ready, and win the Week 1 starting job, he might remain the QB3 to start the regular season." 

This comment sparked some rage on Twitter. The truth is that it's very VERY unlikely McCarthy is going to beat out Darnold week 1. And no one should be surprised AT ALL if he starts the season as QB3. I actually expect him to.

I thought about this last night and what a great learning experience it would be for McCarthy to be QB2 or 3 and during the games being able to listen to KOC give Darnold pre-snap instructions for thos 20 or so seconds on every play before the transmission is cut.  Basically, each play in a game would be a tutorial for McCarthy as he will know the play and then hear KOC run through what he sees the defense lining up to do.  Hell, I wold love to hear KOC's communications to Darnold for a couple of plays.  Yes, McCarthy would get that if he was playing but hearing in a stress free environment allows McCarthy to process the information differently and retain it more effectively IMHO.

MAD GAINZ wrote:

Everyone has a voice on social media.  I'm expecting JJ to be the QB3 as well if the Vikings truly plan to let him develop most (or all) of his rookie year.

I'm more interested in who will be the backup to start the season...  Mullens or Hall?  I mean JJ might be QB2 if he checks enough boxes prior to the start of the season.  I just think the Vikings want to avoid starting him too early so it's going to come down to whether Mullens or Hall can beat the other one out for QB2.  I don't think the Vikings necessarily want JJ being one concussion or injury away from playing early in the year.

Thats an interesting question. I think that decision will come down to what JJ's able to accomplish by week 1. If the Vikings feel good about where he's at, they could choose Hall over Mullens because he still has a degree of upside. 

But I tend to think the Vikings will play it safe and go into the season Darnold and Mullens, with McCarthy inactive. Same as what the Titans did last year with Tannehill, Willis and Levis. Levis started QB3 and his haters celebrated. But the only reason he was QB3 was because Willis was a year ahead of him in terms of knowing the offense. 

I don't know when he moved to QB2, but when Tannehill got hurt mid year, it was Levis who came in.