The Vikings may have handed J.J. McCarthy the backup job behind Kyler Murray, but they haven’t exactly slammed the door on the conversation.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert reported that head coach Kevin O’Connell made it known that "McCarthy is the Vikings' No. 2QB." But the way O’Connell handled it left some wiggle room, because he also "did not rule out further consideration."
Kevin O’Connell made clear that J.J. MCCarthy is the Vikings’ No.
2 QB. But he said he wants the room to remain competitive and did not rule out further consideration.
That’s where the tension lives. McCarthy is still a young quarterback trying to carve out his place in the league, and Minnesota needs him to keep developing without losing confidence along the way. That balance gets even harder when the team won’t fully lock in the depth chart.
The noise around Carson Wentz isn’t going away either. There have already been rumblings that Wentz could be the better choice to back up Murray if McCarthy doesn’t show enough. O’Connell’s noncommittal stance is only likely to feed that discussion until McCarthy can clearly separate himself.
There’s still time for the picture to change. The Vikings have more practices ahead and two preseason games left, so nothing is finished yet.
For now, though, McCarthy is still more of a work in progress than a finished product. Being listed as QB2 gives the 23-year-old some stability, but it also comes with pressure to hold off Wentz.
That’s a very different setup from 2025, when Minnesota was comfortable handing McCarthy the starting job without much of a battle for it. The results were rough enough to remind the franchise that it can’t afford to repeat that approach.
McCarthy ended that season with 1,632 passing yards, 11 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, a 57.6% completion rate and 72.6 passer rating in 10 starts. His 61.8 overall grade ranked 33rd among 38 quarterbacks who took at least 200 dropbacks in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.
So while McCarthy has the label of QB2 for now, the Vikings are still waiting for him to show he can be the quarterback they believed they were getting when they selected him No. 10 overall two years ago. Until then, he has to keep working and make the case that he belongs behind Murray - and eventually back in the starting conversation.
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J.J. McCarthy Has Plenty Riding On Vikings Preseason Game
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J.J. McCarthy sits near the center of it all, because his performance has to take a step forward if he wants to firm up the QB2 conversation. Jacob Thomas also bears watching after an impressive Week 1 showing, and Caleb Banks remains an intriguing project after a rough preseason debut while he continues working back from injury. For a team still shaping its depth chart, this is the kind of game where a few snaps can carry a lot of weight. [Read more 🡒]