Sometimes guarded answers lead to more questions, and Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell invited speculation with his latest comments about the team’s quarterback situation and, specifically, J.J. McCarthy.
The team has already ruled McCarthy out for Week 4.
The Vikings turned to Carson Wentz in Week 3, beating the Cincinnati Bengals. Wentz’s performance has sparked questions on whether the Vikings will turn back to McCarthy.
J.J. McCarthy Question Remains
O’Connell addressed the media on Monday, and he was asked directly if he and the Vikings are “100% committed” to McCarthy once the No. 10 overall pick of the 2024 draft returns from the ankle injury that knocked him out of Week 3.
The coach initially said, “Yeah,” before continuing to explain the process of what McCarthy’s eventual return entails.
“Yeah, I think – first and foremost, he’s got to get healthy. And then, throughout that process, it’s not just – I don’t think it’s one of those things where it’s, hey, the day he’s healthy, and if he’s healthy the night before a game, we’re going to just throw him out there and say, ‘Hey, go figure it out’ type of thing. I think we saw, as phenomenal as he was getting prepared for the Atlanta game, he did miss practice that week,” O’Connell told reporters on September 22.
“When you’re in the phasing of building up the 10,000 reps and 10,000 hours of what it takes to play the position at a very high level, which we know J.J. McCarthy is going to do, you can’t cut corners on that. And that also doesn’t require an answer on that question today.”
Some fans hung onto the lack of a definitive “yes” when presented with the portion of O’Connell’s comments about his commitment to McCarthy on Monday. But O’Connell did open his response with a variation of the affirmative.
Whether that was part of the answer or just an acknowledgement of the question presented remains unclear.
Kevin O’Connell Rejects J.J. McCarthy Report Ahead of Vikings’ Trip
O’Connell was also asked about a report from CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson on X from September 21 claiming the Vikings planned on having McCarthy return in Week 7, after their bye, to face the Philadelphia Eagles, if not sooner.
“I would not say that’s accurate. I would just say that that probably stems off the conversation of him making the trip with us,” O’Connell said.
“What is accurate is the idea of, no matter how much I believe J.J. would go out there and tough it out today, tomorrow, if we asked him to, to me at this point in a very young career, his mobility is one of his weapons that has clearly already shown to be something that’s a positive for him. So, we want to make sure he’s healthy and allow this to be something that we can put in the rearview mirror and continue on with where he’s at in his young career here.”
“We’re going to take it a day at a time,” O’Connell said. “He responded well to treatment early on. He’s out of the boot, and now it just becomes the phase of high ankle kind of rehab that we’re going to hopefully be able to get him back up to speed pretty quickly.”
Vikings QB Situation in Spotlight
O’Connell’s sentiments do not suggest he is giving up on McCarthy in any way, nor do they suggest the Vikings are concerned about Wentz remaining under center if need be. The injury will keep McCarthy sidelined at least one more week.
Another strong outing from Wentz, whose experience O’Connell said McCarthy could benefit from watching, will only fuel speculation.
The Vikings face the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns overseas in Weeks 4 and 5.