MN Vikings Worried About JJ McCarthy’s Mental Fragility?

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The Minnesota Vikings are getting ready for a game that they cannot lose, if they want any shot at making the playoffs when the 2025 regular season ends seven weekends from now.

But one thing has become clear through 10 games, five of which have been featured redshirt rookie JJ McCarthy as the starting quarterback. Kevin O’Connell is struggling to find the balance between coaching to win now and trying to develop a 22-year-old QB.

And not just any young talented arm, either. McCarthy had serious flaws in his mechanics when he got to the NFL. That was before JJ was forced into taking a year off due to a knee injury that robbed him of his rookie season.

JJ McCarthy’s mechanics are all jacked up

On NFL Live (ESPN) Wednesday, former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky easily found and fixed the mechanical issues that are causing McCarthy’s wild inaccuracy on some of his throws.

According to Dan, his stance is too wide and his stride too long. And that’s just the start. He also needs to tilt his shoulders, in order to create more loft on his ball. Lastly, JJ needs to rotate his hips better, which will limit his tendency to fly open when he rips balls to the sideline.

His numbers — 52.9% completion | 842 yards | 6 touchdowns | 8 interceptions | 61 QB rating | 26.6 QBR — all rank dead last among qualified quarterbacks and his mechanical issues are causing McCarthy to be wildly inaccurate.

What we are seeing with JJ McCarthy shouldn’t be all that surprising. This is a kid trying to grow up on the job, with millions of football fans and every opinion producer with a following dissecting his every move, both on and off the field.

That’s a lot of pressure, even for a National Champion who prides himself on thriving in such environments. And now, he’s struggling to keep his head above water.

But what’s most frustrating: The Minnesota Vikings didn’t have to throw their young quarterback into the deep end of the NFL pool this season, like they did. They chose him over multiple really good options, and tried everything in their power to convince us the kid QB was ready for the big time.

At one point last offseason, O’Connell & Co. seemingly had a choice of three incredible quarterbacks, between Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones and Aaron Rodgers. All Kwesi and KOC had to do was to pick their favorite option, then submit a requisite offer, compared to other teams.

Minnesota Vikings worried about JJ McCarthy’s fragility?

But according to Dianna Russini (The Athletic) during an appearance on the Hoge & Jahns Podcast Wednesday, those inside TCO Performance Center appear to be more worried about JJ McCarthy’s feelings than they were about having the best possible QB for 2025 and beyond.

Russini claims the Vikings “didn’t want to get in his head” which is why they didn’t even want McCarthy to know they were flirting with Aaron Rodgers in the first place, last spring/summer.

If true, there’s no way they were comfortable keeping young and hungry quarterbacks around, like Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold, who probably would have made the kid QB look downright silly on the practice field.

“They didn’t want anyone to know [they were flirting with Rodgers] because they didn’t want [McCarthy] to know that, because they didn’t want to get in his head. Okay. So, why are we walking on eggshells with the franchise quarterbacks essentially?

Like, that’s not a franchise quarterback then, if you’re going to be that fragile. And that’s where I reflect on some of that time. I’m like, maybe they knew the whole time. Maybe they knew, because this is another like theme I’ve noticed from covering the leagues for so many years.

It’s like being in a bad relationship, where you just don’t want to have the honest conversation. It’s hard for people to just go, ‘This isn’t it. This is not it.’ Because then you have to admit that you made the mistake, that you picked the wrong guy. Or perhaps, maybe, I’m not good enough to bring out the best in him.”

Dianna Russini – Hoge & Jahns Podcast

Related: Another Vikings O-Lineman in Danger of Missing Time

Now in Pittsburgh, Rodgers has proven more than capable of contributing to a winning cause, even at nearly 42 years old. In the end, KOC told his friend and the 3x NFL MVP that his services were not needed in purple, because McCarthy was ready to take over.

And let’s not forget, this was AFTER Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones had already walked. Before they shunned Rodgers, the MN Vikings had an opportunity to sign or franchise tag Darnold.

So, whether JJ McCarthy ends up being a good NFL QB or not, it’s worth asking what in the world were the Minnesota Vikings thinking last offseason when they were making decisions at quarterback? Again, Russini goes back to the redshirt rookie’s mental fragility and O’Connell’s obsession with propping him up to protect it.

“All the stuff I heard behind the scenes of JJ in the summer was just like, ‘he’s blown the doors off the coaching staff and even the players’. Okay. To the point of what you made, doI think that they were overstating his ability a little bit? I was like, ‘what is happening in Minnesota…why are they doing this?’

You never hear teams talking about their [second-year QB], but your rookie essentially, the way they were talking about him. I never heard Washington talking about Jaden [Daniels] like that. Chicago wasn’t talking about Caleb like that, because they were being realistic. They’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s got a way to go.’

The Vikings were like, ‘Oh my god.’.. like it was like weird. And I remember being like, “Okay, I’m gonna start listening to it more.” And then then I realized it was a thing. Like this was a thing. This is obviously an organization who’s like, ‘We got to build this guy up.'”

Dianna Russini – Hoge & Jahns Podcast

Technically, Darnold and Jones chose to leave for greener pastures, but only after the Vikings made it very clear to anyone listening that the odds would be stacked against them in Minnesota, trying to beat a healthy McCarthy out for the starting job.

MN Vikings QB life did not have to be this hard in 2025

Speaking of Sam, the now 28-year-old former Vikings QB who threw for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns and 12 interceptions last season in purple, before he became an MVP candidate in 2025 with the Seattle Seahawks

The Minnesota Vikings organization is so worried about McCarthy’s mental fragility that it felt the need to prop up its young QB and spread constant propaganda, just to keep his confidence up.

Whether it was in-house, or coming from outside the organization, the Vikings hype train surrounding their kid quarterback was so intense that it chased away three other QBs who are now the top 10-15 of NFL starters in 2025.

And now, JJ McCarthy is struggling to keep his head above water. Will the Minnesota Vikings continue to stick with him beyond this season? Russini is not convinced.

Related: Analyst Says JJ McCarthy Needs to Take a Chill Pill

Then, there’s the Vikings’ third QB option last offseason fall by the wayside, Vikings easily could’ve had Daniel Jones. Kwesi even offered Jones a little bit more money than the Colts did.

Nonetheless, the allure of competing in Indy against incumbent starter Anthony Richardson was far greater than staying in Minnesota, where he quickly realized the mythical figure JJ McCarthy was being built into.

Fast forward a handful of months, the Colts are 8-2 and seemingly on their way to an AFC playoff run behind their longshot MVP candidate QB and the Minnesota Vikings may be entering another offseason dominated by quarterback questions.

Vikings still hiding McCarthy

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings are still hiding McCarthy from competition. There’s little doubt 25-year-old Max Brosmer would look better than JJ does, at least for now.

But Kevin O’Connell has had multiple opportunities to play his other kid QB. Instead, he will continue to play McCarthy before he is ready, for the same reason he was willing to get Carson Wentz killed against the Chargers, with the whole world watching.

Because the MN Vikings clearly believe — no matter what they say publicly — that protecting the confidence of their 2024 No. 10 overall pick, while also getting him game day reps, is more important than all other organizational objectives, including winning.

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