{"id":192331,"date":"2025-07-09T01:28:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/192331\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T01:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T01:28:13","slug":"vikings-face-warning-over-j-j-mccarthys-role-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/192331\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings Face Warning Over J.J. McCarthy’s Role in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vikings Face Warning Over J.J. McCarthy’s Role in 2025<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings made a big bet on quarterback J.J. McCarthy this offseason, allowing veteran Sam Darnold to leave in free agency after his career-best season and instead moving ahead with McCarthy despite his injury-shortened rookie season.<\/p>\n

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It’s a bet that might not bring immediate results, one insider warns. Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton predicted<\/a> all of the last-place teams in the NFL, suggesting that the Vikings will drop from 14-3 last season to the bottom of the NFC North this year.<\/p>\n

Moton suggested that McCarthy’s development will slow the team’s outlook. McCarthy was in line to earn the starting job last year before being sidelined by a knee injury, forcing Darnold into action and leading to the best season of the veteran’s career.<\/p>\n

“Though head coach Kevin O’Connell has proved himself to be a quality play-caller, he can’t wave a magic wand to expedite first-year starter J.J. McCarthy’s development,” Moton wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Minnesota<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) under center against the Las Vegas Raiders in the third quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium.Brad Rempel-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Moton noted that the Vikings are facing a talented division, and the time it takes McCarthy to develop a connection with teammates will likely cost the team games.<\/p>\n

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“However, McCarthy’s inexperience could cost the Vikings some games against formidable opponents,” Moton wrote. “Since he became head coach, O’Connell’s rushing offenses have ranked 19th or worse. Without a complementary ground game, the QB could struggle through the first half of the season before he finds his rhythm.”<\/p>\n

The Vikings appear focused on McCarthy, opting against pursuing veteran Aaron Rodgers and instead bringing on Sam Howell as a backup. Howell is not expected to mount a serious challenge to McCarthy’s starting role.<\/p>\n

Related: J.J. McCarthy Breaks Silence on Vikings QB Controversy, Trade Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jul 8, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vikings Face Warning Over J.J. McCarthy’s Role in 2025 originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Minnesota Vikings made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[1586,7,1519,9249,393,233,259,2529,22282,6,1878,2336,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-192331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-aaron-rodgers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-j-j-mccarthy","11":"tag-kevin-oconnell-2","12":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","13":"tag-minnesota","14":"tag-minnesota-vikings","15":"tag-minnesotavikings","16":"tag-moe-moton","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-sam-darnold","19":"tag-sam-howell","20":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114820684961523978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}