J.J. McCarthy continues to impress the veterans on the Minnesota Vikings ahead of his first season as the starting quarterback. While there are questions surrounding the young signal caller, one player who will be protecting him all season sent a positive message.
Before the Vikings’ preseason game on Saturday against the New England Patriots, tackle Brian O’Neill shared his thoughts on how he has seen McCarthy look in training camp and the preseason.
“I would just say his demeanor in the huddle — he was calm, cool, collected, but still had a fire to him that you can tell is the competitive side, and it really came out,” O’Neill Vikings Entertainment Network’s Tatum Everett. “He had some juice in the huddle, and it was good to see him have that against another team rather than ourselves for the first time.”
McCarthy has shown enough promise to earn praise from the Vikings’ head coach, Kevin O’Connell, and his teammates. It will be interesting to see how he starts the season for Minnesota, aiming to help the team get off to a strong start and make a push for the NFC North division title.
MORE: Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell gives honest assessment of J.J. McCarthy
Furthermore, O’Neill talked about the group that will be protecting McCarthy all season to ensure that the University of Michigan product has enough time in the pocket to find the talented weapons on offense.
There are several new faces in Will Fries, Ryan Kelly, and Donovan Jackson on the offensive line heading into the 2025 season. So, O’Neill spotlighted the chemistry building that the group is having during training and preseason.
“I think the more we’ve been able to be together, the better it’s gone,” O’Neill added. “We’re not a finished product yet. We’re not where we need to be, but I think we got a good plan, and we’re trending in the right direction. Hopefully, getting Christian Darrisaw back full-speed, full-time pretty soon will obviously really help. He’s a phenomenal player.”
