Those Close to JJ McCarthy are 100% Confident He’ll be Ready for Vikings Season

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Jan 31, 2025

JJ McCarthy - Minnesota Vikings — Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings have a lot of decisions to make on their roster between now and the start of the 2025 NFL season, and none of those decisions are more important than what they do at quarterback. Will they hand over the reins to JJ McCarthy or try and bring Sam Darnold back?

Of course, the answer to that very basic question is much more complicated than one sentence can provide context for. Just to scratch the surface, the Vikings will have to figure out how much Sam Darnold cost and how many years does he’ll require on his new deal?

Then, does head coach Kevin O’Connell have confidence that JJ McCarthy will be able to take over as starting QB and run with the role? We do not know. But before they address either of those questions, they’ll have to figure out how healthy the 2024 No. 10 overall draft pick is and whether or not he will be football ready, come training camp and into the regular season.

JJ McCarthy will be ready and healthy by start of 2025, according to his team…

Well, when insiders (like Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson of SKOR North and KSTP) check in on McCarthy’s progress, those close to the young QB are confirming his timeline is on track for the start of the season.

In fact, Wolfson relayed that they are “100% confident” JJ McCarthy — who has resumed on-field football activities — will be ready to play real football games by September, when the 2025 Minnesota Vikings regular season kicks off.

Wolfson: “All signs point to JJ McCarthy being okay. Those close to JJ McCarthy will tell you, yes, [we have] every reason to believe he will be good to go come September”…”He needs to add some weight, he looks skinny. The last time we saw him, that TV shot on the sidelines week 18 at Ford Field, we were like ‘oh, he looks almost too skinny’.”

Mackey: “It won’t take him six months to put that weight back on.”

Wolfson: “There’s work to be done in the weight room. Even since [we saw him] then, like in the last 3 four weeks, [he’s been building back up]. I’m just telling you, those close to JJ are 100% convinced he will be fine. He will be good to go come September.”
Mackey & Judd Show – SKOR North

Will ‘ready’ be ‘ready’ enough for the Minnesota Vikings?

Of course, this report leaves all sorts of unanswered questions, many of which will take time to get answers. Let’s take JJ McCarthy’s people at their word, and assume McCarthy really is on track to be fully cleared by week one of the MN Vikings regular season.

Does that mean he has participated in the entirety of training camp? Has he played in all of their preseason games… what about offseason workouts? The answer to those questions remains a mystery, even after this update from Doogie.

Until we know more, it’s impossible to know what the Minnesota Vikings are thinking behind the scenes, as they decide how to move forward with Sam Darnold. NFL teams can designate the franchise tag as early as February 18. The deadline to place the franchise tag on a player is March 4 (3 PM CT).