The latest information on Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy is quite interesting. Multiple reporters from different angles are having the same conversation about the former 10th overall pick, and it creates a compelling picture of where things stand for the young quarterback heading into the 2026 season.

We’ve spent a lot of time talking about McCarthy in multiple different ways, and it’s becoming a frustrating topic of conversation. However, it’s going to continue until there is some sort of resolution. What are the latest updates surrounding the third-year quarterback? It’s a mixed bag.

Kevin O’Connell may want to keep working with McCarthy

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated had a quick hitter in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, saying, “I’ve gotten the sense, for what it’s worth, that Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell wants to keep her working with J.J. McCarthy.”

That very well could be the case. O’Connell has wanted to develop a quarterback and believed in McCarthy for a long time, even with some of the things gathered from his press conferences and outside sources suggesting he may not be as invested in working with McCarthy as he once was. Even so, the Vikings did make him the 10th overall pick. It makes sense that Minnesota wants to try and salvage something out of that rookie contract.

Did McCarthy take himself out?

The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling spoke on Access Vikings about McCarthy essentially removing himself from the preseason game.

“McCarthy practiced Monday, Tuesday and we saw him; he didn’t look, at least from what I remember, didn’t seem like he was limping. He didn’t seem terribly affected by it. Doesn’t practice Wednesday. O’Connell says Wednesday we’re going to try to get him turned over to play. And then Friday, [we] find out before the game he’s not going to go and that it was clear from the people I talked to that it was him not being comfortable playing in the game. It was not the team saying no we don’t think you’re ready to go. It was him saying I’m not comfortable doing it,” said Goessling.

This is a really interesting angle to the discussion about McCarthy. Why would he say no to playing in the game? If you believe Adam Schefter, McCarthy is going to be out multiple weeks. Considering he was practicing after the injury last week to now being out multiple weeks, it raises a red flag.

“That could be with any number of motivations,” said Goessling about McCarthy not playing on Friday night. “We don’t have any way to say definitively what would have led to that decision, but I mean, Andrew, you heard it after the game. Kevin O’Connell said, ‘We wanted him to start, and we were planning to play him the whole first half.’ So, it now means, as Emily, you just said, he won’t have taken any meaningful reps really the last week of the preseason.”

That’s a significant detail. If McCarthy was healthy enough to practice earlier in the week but then said he wasn’t comfortable playing in the game, it could speak volumes. One potential read is that it has something to do with trade discussions, where McCarthy didn’t feel like putting in extra effort for an organization that was going to move on from him. Goessling opined that maybe there was a legitimate reason McCarthy felt like he didn’t want to go out there, with the trade value piece being a factor.

Earlier in the day, The Athletic’s Alec Lewis mentioned on the Vikings flagship radio station that it was a mild surprise the Vikings weren’t able to get something done regarding a trade. It’s not a surprise that they weren’t willing to part with him for just anything, especially with the likes of Kyle McCord and Quinn Ewers fetching sixth-round picks.

What will end up happening with McCarthy? We still don’t know, but I would be surprised if he was on the Vikings much longer.