Locked On Vikings Hit - Quick Takes on the Minnesota Vikings
Sep 29, 2026 · 8 min · 9 segments
The Minnesota Vikings traded J.J. McCarthy Monday after a 2.5 year saga of miscalculations in McCarthy's development. Photo Credit: Imagn Images **Support us by supporting our sponsors!**…
Sam EkstromHost
Later in the show, I'll tell you which tight end I want the Vikings to bring in to replace Josh Oliver, but first let's run down where the Vikings misfired the last two and a half years since drafting J.J. McCarthy.
The Vikings saw him against the Raiders, preseason game number one of his career.
That was probably a miscalculation for Kevin O'Connell to stand up there and say, "We have our franchise quarterback.
Vikings fans should be very excited," because then what happened? Sam Darnold happened, and Sam Darnold could've been that franchise quarterback.
And the Vikings made maybe an ill-advised projection on J.J. McCarthy's development that if he was that good in one half of a preseason game, this is how he'll do when he's healthy with more time on task.
Now, would he have developed more had he been in practice as the primary backup? Probably.
But the Vikings made an, an ill-advised calculation that because he showed it in half a preseason game, that he was worthy of starting in 2025.
With the track record that he showed in Washington, that was not a serious backup to compete or even, even support J.J. McCarthy in his development.
And how about the decision not to play him more in the 2025 preseason? I thought that was a little crazy as well considering he hadn't played football in a year.
To put him on ice the way they did, I thought that was detrimental because of the mechanical issues that they were fixated on.
Players are supposed to do their development in the off-season and kinda come to camp ready, and it's hard to, to work on mechanics as a quarterback in-season when you're trying to win games, you're trying to make the right decisions.
He had plenty else on his mind, and KOC was very fixated on mechanics, and then he wasn't.
Later in the show, I'll tell you which tight end I want the Vikings to bring in to replace Josh Oliver, but first let's run down where the Vikings misfired the last two and a half years since drafting J.J. McCarthy.
The Vikings saw him against the Raiders, preseason game number one of his career.
That was probably a miscalculation for Kevin O'Connell to stand up there and say, "We have our franchise quarterback.
Vikings fans should be very excited," because then what happened? Sam Darnold happened, and Sam Darnold could've been that franchise quarterback.
And the Vikings made maybe an ill-advised projection on J.J. McCarthy's development that if he was that good in one half of a preseason game, this is how he'll do when he's healthy with more time on task.
Now, would he have developed more had he been in practice as the primary backup? Probably.
But the Vikings made an, an ill-advised calculation that because he showed it in half a preseason game, that he was worthy of starting in 2025.
With the track record that he showed in Washington, that was not a serious backup to compete or even, even support J.J. McCarthy in his development.
And how about the decision not to play him more in the 2025 preseason? I thought that was a little crazy as well considering he hadn't played football in a year.
To put him on ice the way they did, I thought that was detrimental because of the mechanical issues that they were fixated on.
Players are supposed to do their development in the off-season and kinda come to camp ready, and it's hard to, to work on mechanics as a quarterback in-season when you're trying to win games, you're trying to make the right decisions.
He had plenty else on his mind, and KOC was very fixated on mechanics, and then he wasn't.
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