The Mona Lisa

Now that is nice to see, so much to like about that one. 

REALLY looking forward to watching him in pre-season, even just a few sequences. I hope to see some of Brosmer too.

I can confirm something that the Vikings have strongly hinted at -- JJ McCarthy will play in the first preseason game (vs HOU/Aug 9), but the plan is to sit him out in the last 2 (vs NEP/Aug 16 | at TEN/Aug 22).

— Thor Nystrom (@thorku) July 28, 2025

NorseFeathers wrote:
https://x.com/thorku/status/1949820133553426559

I find that surprising...

yeah, Aaron Jones has been one of his biggest cheerleaders since springtime. I am hoping he is correct, but seeds of doubt have been sown in my mind as I've read about his struggle against our #1 Defense. Now maybe that's not an indictment against JJM, or even our re-tooled OL, but is it possible that our new DL and Edge is that good? I am afraid to exhale until we see Chicago on MNF in early September.

Montana Tom wrote:
yeah, Aaron Jones has been one of his biggest cheerleaders since springtime.  I am hoping he is correct, but seeds of doubt have been sown in my mind as I've read about his struggle against our #1 Defense.  Now maybe that's not an indictment against JJM, or even our re-tooled OL, but is it possible that our new DL and Edge is that good?  I am afraid to exhale until we see Chicago on MNF in early September.

Not to entirely dispel concerns, but heck - Cousins struggled against it too - and that D wasn't as good back then. 

D's are just way ahead of offense this early in TC and JJM is still so green. 

I'm just hoping over time this season he can learn how to win with big time throws. Interesting perspective on that here:

Sam Darnold’s surprisingly very good season for the Vikings in 2024 generally boiled down to this: He was at a stage of his career and in a system that allowed him to generate more positive than negative plays with his considerable arm talent.

Darnold was tied for third in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, in the category of “big-time throws” with 33 of them. That’s a bit of a subjective category, but then again so is this one: he was tied for the NFL lead with 24 “turnover-worthy plays.”

There are more ideal ratios (Justin Herbert, for instance, had the same number of big-time throws with just 13 turnover-worthy plays), but it was notable at least for Darnold that the good outweighed the bad. That was not the case early in his career with the Jets; from 2018 to 2020, his first three years in the NFL, Darnold combined for 45 big-time throws and 61 turnover-worthy plays.

Darnold’s regression at the end of last season shows up in those numbers: one big-time throw and five turnover-worthy plays combined in crushing losses to the Lions and Rams.

A lot of us tend to think of big-time throws as deep balls, but there is more nuance than just long bombs. Sometimes it’s fitting an intermediate throw into a tight window, something Darnold was usually pretty good at last season.

It could be an area where McCarthy struggles, at least initially, particularly against faster and more varied NFL defenses.

“Where there’s a void and there’s a vacancy,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said this past weekend, talking about how McCarthy is working on improving his touch on certain throws, “but there might be a defender in front and a defender behind, and we’ve got to find a way to get that ball completed. That’s probably the biggest difference between college football and the NFL, at least with a lot of the passing attacks that I’m familiar with.”

In his final season at Michigan, McCarthy was credited with 20 big-time throws and 11 turnover-worthy plays in 15 games counting the postseason march to a national title. 

That’s an imperfect comparison considering Michigan relied more heavily on its running game than leaning on McCarthy to save the day, but it is notable that McCarthy produced big-time throws on 5.9% of his dropbacks during that season (slightly more than Darnold last year at 5.6%) while doing a better job of limiting turnover-worthy plays.

Can he replicate that in the NFL? That question will shape the 2025 Vikings and McCarthy’s career arc.

StickierBuns wrote:
...If they didn't believe in him, they'd have made Uncle Sammy a big offer or signed Aaron Rodgers. Patience, lol.

Uncle Sammy came in at #72 in last year's NFL Top 100 list. Not bad for a bust. I think it speaks to KOC's belief in JJM that they let Sam walk. Here's to KOC's confidence in JJM and to 3rd round compensatory picks.

StickierBuns wrote:

My little birdie told me that the Viking's faith in McCarthy is almost 'evangelical'. I can't say what will happen for sure, but I can tell you that the organization is putting all their eggs is JJ's basket for a reason that they believe in fully. But that and $7.00 will get you a plain black coffee at Starbucks.

The best thing any QB could have, most especially a young one, is KOC speaking to you in your helmet headset before every play until 15 seconds before the play starts. Its the difference.

Sure as hell better than getting screamed at and pulled off the field, ala Chicago. Maybe I'm being naive, but I just have this quiet confidence that KOC will simply not allow McCarthy to be a bust. He may not be Tom Brady right away, but KOC has done damn near everything right. 

If McCarthy plays like Darnold did in this offense, I think NFL teams are going to start looking for former QBs to hire as HCs. I could be wrong, but I think Harbaugh and O'Connell are the only two.

MaroonBells wrote:

Sure as hell better than getting screamed at and pulled off the field, ala Chicago. Maybe I'm being naive, but I just have this quiet confidence that KOC will simply not allow McCarthy to be a bust. He may not be Tom Brady right away, but KOC has done damn near everything right. 

If McCarthy plays like Darnold did in this offense, I think NFL teams are going to start looking for former QBs to hire as HCs. I could be wrong, but I think Harbaugh and O'Connell are the only two.

Our old friend, Sean Payton, played QB for the Bears as a scab during the NFL strike in 1987.  For his NFL career, Payton played in 3 games where he completed 8 of 23 passes (34.8%) for 79 yards, no touchdowns, an interception, and a passer rating of 27.3.

NorseFeathers wrote:

Uncle Sammy came in at #72 in last year's NFL Top 100 list. Not bad for a bust. I think it speaks to KOC's belief in JJM that they let Sam walk. Here's to KOC's confidence in JJM and to 3rd round compensatory picks.

keeping SD at low end starter money would have made the rebuilding plan almost impossible... it simply wouldnt have opened the window that a rookie starting QB does.  resigning SD would have been a fast lane to purgatory.