Kevin O'Connell explains why Vikings haven't named J.J. McCarthy the starter

[ASFN Admin]

The Minnesota Vikings haven't named J.J. McCarthy the starting quarterback yet, but Kevin O'Connell is telling fans not to overreact to that.

O'Connell appeared on Kay Adams' podcast Up & Adams this week and answered questions about his 2024 first-round pick. Although some may read too far into McCarthy not officially being named the team's starter, O'Connell said it's too early to draw any conclusions on the quarterback.

We can’t even line up defensive players from our own team against him yet, so we really don’t have a need to have anything more than just development time, learning time, teaching phase for our team. Trust me, J.J. is going to get all of the prerequisite work for us to come out of the spring, and feel great about where he’s at and headed into training camp.

O'Connell may be right in that there's no reason to overreact to this right now. But McCarthy will act as the team's starter when OTAs and mandatory minicamp begin. He held a press conference with reporters this week and has been talked about glowingly by coaches and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah this offseason.

Why won't Kevin O'Connell name JJ MCCarthy the starter??!!#Skol@Vikingspic.twitter.com/zrYYarcyvL

— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) April 30, 2025

It's much like the "couple" that isn't a "couple" yet. They're always together, going on dates and holding hands, without the social media post announcing their relationship being official. McCarthy will be the team's starter. He's just waiting for O'Connell to officially share it with the world.

This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: Vikings HC explains why the team hasn't named 2024 pick starting QB

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