JJ McCarthy’s Footwork Holding Him Back from Vikings Starting Job

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JJ McCarthy: Las Vegas Raiders at Minnesota Vikings
Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

To this point, most Minnesota Vikings’ fans are aware that head coach Kevin O’Connell will not start JJ McCarthy until he’s hit all the required benchmarks. The Minnesota Vikings’ brass has been preaching this from the moment they drafted McCarthy back in April.

KOC reiterated it Saturday, even after McCarthy’s impressive preseason debut vs the Las Vegas Raiders, where he went 11-of-17 for 188 yards (116.8 QB rating), with 2 beautiful touchdowns and one ugly interception.

Despite his massive improvement from spring rookie workouts, to now, the No. 10 overall pick has things to fix, before he can think about taking over as Minnesota’s starter.

J.J. McCarthy’s footwork a problem in live team drills with pass rush

McCarthy’s current problem, fundamentally, lies in his footwork. Back in June, it as reported that JJ and O’Connell were really focusing on getting his feet right, in the pocket, while going through reads. Months later, McCarthy has improved, in that area, but muscle memory doesn’t happen overnight.

That’s why, when things get chaotic around him, he’s still defaulting to previous bad habits. After visiting Minnesota Vikings’ Training Camp, Dan Graziano (ESPN) noted that JJ McCarthy’s footwork often changes in 11-on-11, versus 7-on-7 drills.

At this point, the Vikings’ coaches still notice that McCarthy’s footwork changes when he’s in live team drills with a pass rush from what it is when he’s in 7-on-7 drills. They need him to improve his feel and footwork in those situations.

Dan Graziano (ESPN)

If you aren’t familiar with those drills, 11-on-11 include offensive line vs defensive line, and a pass rush. Meanwhile, 7-on-7 has no pass rush, and focuses on coverage reads. Obviously, having 250-350 lb human trucks bearing down changes how a QB processes his reads.

This is just one example of why KOC isn’t ready to throw his rookie into the fire quite yet. We know JJ is a gamer, we saw it yesterday. But, we also saw some of the happy feet, and footwork issues the Vikings are concerned about, in the long term.

Is there any chance McCarthy starts for the Minnesota Vikings week one?

Footwork is hard to change but it is coachable and fixable. However, it takes time and continuous repetition. It’s hard to erase years worth of ingrained habits. That said, Graziano also noted that it’s not decided that Sam Darnold will open the season as the starter.

To reiterate: It is not decided that Darnold will open the season as the starter. But McCarthy has to keep clearing the specific developmental benchmarks O’Connell and the Vikings have set for him to prove he’s worthy of the top job or even the No. 2 spot ahead of Mullens in September. 

Dan Graziano (ESPN)

Yes, Darnold is the odds on favorite to open the season as the week one starter. That’s been the thinking since they picked up Darnold in free agency and paid him more than backup money. But to say that McCarthy has a zero percent chance of starting is foolish.

Related: T.J. Hockenson’s Return to Action Becoming More Clear Now

Overall, McCarthy does have an uphill battle to be the week one starter against the New York Giants. Despite needing to continue to work on his footwork, there’s still plenty of time to prove himself. The Minnesota Vikings still have two preseason games remaining, as well as joint practices with the Cleveland Browns.

We’re heading into the stretch where starters begin to separate themselves from the backups. Even if McCarthy doesn’t win the job over these next few weeks, he’s still the future of the at the quarterback position for this franchise.

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