How Much Will JJ McCarthy Play in Vikings Preseason Opener?

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Aug 8, 2024

NFL: Minnesota Vikings Training Camp — Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Vikings will play against the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday afternoon, in their first of three 2024 preseason games. It’s highly unlikely JJ McCarthy is the first quarterback to take the US Bank Stadium field in purple this weekend.

That’ll almost certainly be Sam Darnold. He was listed as QB1 on the team’s first “unofficial” depth chart of the preseason, released Tuesday. The 27-year-old, 6-year NFL veteran was signed over the offseason to help keep the Vikings’ offensive carriage on the road, for as long as needed.

Meanwhile, the 21-year-old rookie will incubate naturally, under the watchful eye of QB guru head coach, Kevin O’Connell. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see plenty of JJ McCarthy this weekend.

Plenty of JJ McCarthy coming up vs Raiders

KOC met with media on Thursday, and unveiled Darnold as the starter on Saturday, followed by McCarthy. Earlier in the week, Dane Mizutani (Pioneer Press) told Brandon Mileski (KFAN) on the radio, “you’ll get a lot of JJ McCarthy run [Saturday].” The head coach echoed that today.

Kevin O’Connell said the #Vikings will play the majority of their players in the preseason opener. Sam Darnold will start at QB, and then J.J. McCarthy will get “a significant amount of work,” O’Connell said.
— Ben Goessling (@BenGoessling) August 8, 2024

This isn’t surprising. Of course, O’Connell wants to bring McCarthy along slowly and ease him into life as an NFL player. At the same time, JJ is a competitor. And now, he competes for a living. So you have to let the kid compete. No doubt he wants to be on the field as much as possible.

How long will Minnesota Vikings play JJ McCarthy, Sam Darnold?

How much will we see the rookie Saturday? I would imagine he gets at least half of the contest. Kevin O’Connell and Sam Darnold will have small, very specific and intentional goals for the QB1 vs Vegas.

As soon as Darnold hits whatever benchmarks set for him, the Vikings will want to bring in McCarthy. Not just to see where the youngster is at, as to not risk injury for Sam either. At most, I expect Darnold to play the entire first half, but even that feels like too much. He’ll likely get one full quarter, at least.

Whenever Sam is removed from the game, whether that’s in the 2nd quarter or 2nd half, the Minnesota Vikings will go to McCarthy. They are well aware of what Nick Mullens is made of.

Even if Nick ends up being named QB2 for week 1 of the regular season, that won’t be the case Saturday. After Darnold, it’ll be McCarthy who comes in vs Vegas. After JJ, they’ll give the ball to Jaren Hall.

JJ McCarthy has been SHOWING OUT at Vikings training camp 😳

McCarthy has reportedly been “cutting up” the Vikings first team defense.

And even had a red zone period where he scored 4 TD’s on 5 drives.

Many NFL scouts reportedly believe McCarthy will be the “QB1” by week one.… pic.twitter.com/Nj7EaSHjYL
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) July 31, 2024

Will that be in the 1st quarter, 2nd quarter…. 3rd quarter? I’d throw a dart somewhere into the 2nd quarter and feel pretty good about anywhere I land. At the latest we’ll see our future franchise quarterback to start the 2nd half.