The Minnesota Vikings have entered yet another offseason with significant questions around their quarterback depth chart, an unsettledness that was supposed to be calmed last year when they drafted J.

“I’m very excited about where J.J. is at,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said in an end-of-season press conference. “He’s returned to on-field training. He’s returned to being right where we hoped he’d be at this point to have the type of offseason to be able to answer that question (about whether or not he can start beginning in 2025).”

Last summer, Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell gave J.J. McCarthy a ringing endorsement as the team's quarterback of the future. "Everyone should be excited that we got our young franchise quarterback in the building,” O’Connell said in August after McCarthy underwent season-ending knee surgery.