Daily Norseman
Veterans reporting today!
The veterans are reporting today! The first game is in 18 days! Cant wait!
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Inside Vikings’ plan for J.J. McCarthy’s lost rookie season
For one hour per week last fall, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell cleared his calendar. He put aside game-planning, practice prep and film study. He ensured he had no team meetings scheduled, no news conferences and no phone calls that needed to be returned.
Instead, O’Connell turned his focus to the franchise’s most important long-term asset: quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
The pair spent that hour meeting one-on-one in O’Connell’s office, the centerpiece of an extensive program the Vikings arranged (while attending to the immediate needs of a 14-3 regular season), to ensure that McCarthy’s rookie year was not a total loss.
...
“I just wanted to give him a platform with me,” O’Connell told ESPN. “Maybe it was football one day. Maybe it was no football. My time is very hard to find during the season, but I just wanted to make sure that we got together.
“The one thing I learned about him in those meetings is he had great questions, and that validated that he was receiving and getting something out of that time. And as I’ve told him, it doesn’t really guarantee you anything, but once you’re fighting the fight on a daily basis of growing within the system, he would be able to rely on some of what we did together.”
...
Why are the Vikings turning over a playoff-ready team to a 22-year-old who became the first quarterback selected in the first round during the NFL’s modern draft era (1967) to miss his entire rookie season because of injury?
Part of the answer relates to the Vikings’ long-term philosophy. McCarthy’s rookie contract, which carries a salary cap charge of only $4.9 million this season and $5.9 million in 2026, is an important chip to aid roster construction. But the rest of it can be traced to McCarthy’s behind-the-scenes work in the five months after his injury (suffered Aug. 10), both in his meetings with O’Connell and through an increasing workload of projects created by quarterbacks coach Josh McCown.
In the highly structured world of the NFL, the Vikings found creative ways to squeeze McCarthy into their day.
...
*McCarthy had access to traditional game film as well as a dedicated camera the Vikings attached to Darnold’s helmet, allowing the rookie to see not only where Darnold looked pre-snap and post-snap but also to hear what he was saying in conjunction with the offensive line and even the defensive signals. That film was viewable on the wide screen the...
