Minnesota Vikings signing Kyler Murray signals a new era for Kevin O’Connell and J.J. McCarthy
It only took two years for the Vikings to make a significant change.
When the Minnesota Vikings selected quarterback J.J. McCarthy at 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, he was viewed as the future of the franchise. Head coach Kevin O’Connell raved about McCarthy then and continued to do so throughout the first offseason and throughout training camp last year.
It was looking promising after Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, where he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his incredible fourth-quarter performance with three touchdowns, leading a come-from-behind victory at Soldier Field. Ultimately, the next 16 games were marred by inconsistencies and injuries, which have led us to this point.
Kyler Murray signing is the end for the J.J. McCarthy era
Thursday afternoon brought us the news we all saw coming, as the Vikings agreed to a contract with quarterback Kyler Murray on a one-year contract for the veteran minimum.
We’ve known this is coming for quite some time, and it’s raised a lot of questions about the future for the Vikings. Murray is looking for a redemption arc, and he’s arguably the most talented quarterback that O’Connell has coached in Minnesota. McCarthy has plenty of talent himself, but massively inconsistent performances across 10 of a possible 35 starts are where there is some significant concern for the future.
Where did things go wrong? It’s hard to pinpoint a specific instance, but the frustration likely began with the torn meniscus in his first offseason. It’s never great to miss your entire rookie season. Even so, Chad Greenway also got injured in his first preseason game with a torn ACL and was one of the better linebackers in team history.
After that, it likely stemmed from him missing practice on a short week to attend the birth of his first child ahead of the Week 2 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Normally, that wouldn’t be a big deal, but he played very poorly, and O’Connell continued to mention it throughout the season. Why would he do that? It likely pissed him off.
“It was great to get back on the grass and have some good sessions out there, kind of getting back to a lot of the principles of lower-body mechanics and things that had been really good parts of his early journey here,” O’Connell said Monday, October 13th, at his first media availability since the club’s Week 6 bye. “[It] didn’t even hit me till we were out there (together) – he had practiced one time since we left Chicago.”
There are very few professions that would look down on someone missing time to see the birth of their child, but being an NFL quarterback is one of them. There is an old school grinder mentality in the league when it comes to the position. You “have to” be the first one in the building and the last one to leave. Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady even discussed at his introductory press conference missing the first of his child.
The interesting element of the entire discussion that came into play was the consistent mentioning of it by O’Connell in press conferences. If it wasn’t a big deal, then why was it consistently mentioned?
Kevin O’Connell laid the groundwork for J.J. McCarthy’s exit in 2024
We’ve all heard the quote from O’Connell about organizations failing young quarterbacks from September of 2024 before.
“I believe that organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations. And that’s not there’s no specific example in my mind that I could give you of a team or a quarterback just overall 30,000 foot view.”
That quote has made the rounds often, and it makes sense. After seeing the resurgence of players like Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, and Geno Smith, it makes all the sense in the world. The performance of Darnold also prompted the second part of the quote, which is severely underdiscussed.
“I think it’s important to understand that every single one of these guys is on a journey, a very difficult journey, that they need the support, they need the teammates around them. They need the systems in place to ultimately try to maximize who they are and what their potential is, because you’re still drafting players rich off of potential. And then everything that happens from that moment to when that potential becomes is really on the organization, if you’ve got the right guy that you’re bringing in.
“And then in regards to, you know, I do believe there’s some times where things just don’t work out, and then getting a chance to kind of wipe the slate clean and get a restart, while still using your previous experiences to kind of shape you know how you’re going to work, why you’re going to work, why things are important to you, will only make guys better in the end, and I’ve seen some examples of that in our league as well over the last few years.”
Sometimes, a specific situation might look like everything they need to thrive and succeed, but it doesn’t always materialize in that way. Things haven’t exactly gone right for McCarthy, with the injuries being the biggest issue. Missing 25 games is a major deal, and it likely prompted this quote from the NFL Scouting Combine when O’Connell spoke to local reporters.
“A lot of those feelings are still the same. It’s just the timeline is in a different place for all of us than it was [in 2024],” O’Connell said.
What are those timelines? Well, it certainly seems to me that the timeline for McCarthy being a starting quarterback is now different because the Vikings need to win now. Despite having a 43-25 regular season record, not a single playoff win is weighing heavily on the minds of everyone involved. Going with the inconsistent McCarthy doesn’t exactly scream consistency in any way. Now, Murray doesn’t either, but it’s a different player, which can often be overlooked due to talent and it being a shiny new toy.
Plus, there is the element of messaging after general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was fired, in which all the blame was placed on him for the Vikings’ quarterback issues, including the selection and start of McCarthy in 2025. That certainly doesn’t track with O’Connell having extensive control with who the Vikings wanted at quarterback, including being dubbed as the “quarterback killer” in previous offseasons.
Is it the best move for the Vikings to move on from the McCarthy era so soon? That’s up to you to decide, but make no mistake about it. The McCarthy era, as we once knew it, is over, and he may never start a game for the Vikings again.