The J.J. McCarthy hype train slowed a bit this week, with rumors circulating that the first-year starting quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings has gotten off to a slow start during organized team activities this spring.
Those rumors led to national talking heads, like the well-known Colin Cowherd, ranting about McCarthy’s lack of signature traits to be a sustained winner at the NFL level.
Insider Jeremy Fowler provided an update during an on-air report for ESPN over the weekend. Fowler never shot down the notion that McCarthy struggled early in OTAs, but he believes team leadership is happy with the 22-year-old’s progress heading toward the next phase of the offseason.
“The Vikings feel like J.J. McCarthy, in Day 9 of these offseason workouts, was a lot stronger than Day 1,” Fowler said. “Coming off that knee issue they knew he could start a little slowly, but they like the way he’s throwing the ball. They feel very comfortable with where he’s at going into training camp.”
McCarthy’s season-ending meniscus injury last summer was brutal, as he missed a full year’s worth of physical reps behind 2024 starter Sam Darnold. No matter how he really looked behind the scenes this spring, McCarthy was always going to be making up for lost time this offseason.
No one should be panicking or cooking up hot takes over a reported slow start to OTAs, when guys are running around in shorts. McCarthy appears to be heading in the right direction, but we’ll get a much better gauge during training camp, which is now just a month away.
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