The Minnesota Vikings are in the middle of their last round of voluntary offseason team activities this week. Many of the team’s veterans were given the week off, but attendance appears to be more mandatory than not, for youngsters like rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Getting McCarthy to show his face at TCO Performance Center hasn’t been a problem this offseason, according to head coach Kevin O’Connell, who told Rich Eisen on Monday that the future QB1 has impressed teammates and coaches with how obsessed he has been with getting onto the Eagan campus and working on his now-professional craft.
J.J. McCarthy threatening to holdout of Minnesota Vikings Training Camp?
But according to a very popular account on X – Twitter (@prettyrickey213) that claims to be an NFL insider — and has broken some big Vikings news (see below) in the past — J.J. McCarthy is threatening to hold out of Vikings Training Camp, if he doesn’t get his entire rookie signing bonus up front, something he says the Vikings have never done before.
Interesting development in Minnesota. JJ McCarthy plans to hold out unless he gets 100% of his signing bonus up front. The Vikings have never done that before. #Skol pic.twitter.com/8ieVKxh5Z9
— Rickey (@prettyrickey213) June 11, 2024
It is worth noting that both Minnesota Vikings first round picks, J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner, have yet to sign their rookie contracts. They aren’t the only ones. Rookie contracts are based on where each player is drafted and dollar values are preset in stone. But exactly HOW and WHEN they receive their signing bonus is negotiable.
According to Spotrac’s rookie contract tracker, about half of the 2024 1st round draft class have yet to sign their rookie deals, including No. 1 pick Caleb Williams, No 2 pick, Jayden Daniels and No. 8 pick, Michael Penix Jr. All three quarterbacks were taken ahead of McCarthy.
Does this mean Pretty Rickey is wrong? No. Like I noted above, Rickey has been right before. For example, he tweeted that Jefferson’s deal was done nearly an hour before it was broken by Adam Schefter or Ian Rapoport. So, this isn’t a random troll account tweeting a nothing burger.
Related: Kevin O’Connell Gives Update on JJ McCarthy’s Progress and His Rank in Vikings QB Hierarchy
It’s also worth noting that players are assessed mandatory fines for every day of training camp that they miss and those fines cannot be reimbursed or negated, after the fact. If McCarthy’s contract isn’t done and he were to boycott all team activities, would he do it via hold-in or hold-out? Hopefully we won’t have to find out.
Minnesota Vikings Training camp is still nearly two months away so this has a lot of time to be worked out, if it is indeed a threat that J.J. McCarthy’s team is making. Nonetheless, it is something worth keeping an eye out for. If anything else drops regarding these J.J. McCarthy holdout rumors, we’ll be here to update you.