EAGAN, Minn. -- The Minnesota Vikings' completed the primary goal of their offseason last weekend during the NFL draft: build a personnel cocoon around quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Now they are on to the job of ensuring he can thrive in it.
McCarthy emerged from the shadows this week, speaking to Minnesota reporters Tuesday for the first time in 235 days. After an offseason in which the team replaced three of its five starting offensive linemen, and committed an NFL-high $315 million to its 2025 roster as part of a massive swing through free agency, McCarthy quipped: "I'm here for it."
For someone who won the national championship while at Michigan in 2023, and was the No. 10 pick of the 2024 draft, McCarthy has been largely a mystery in Minnesota. He tore the meniscus in his right knee in the Vikings' preseason opener, 18 days after the first practice of training camp, and then transitioned into months of recovery that included a second surgery in November to address swelling.
During that time, McCarthy attended meetings, met weekly with coach Kevin O'Connell and traveled with the team late in the season. But as a matter of course, injured players remain in the background until they are healthy.
But as he ramped up his activity during the first six days of the team's offseason program, players have offered glimpses into what they have encountered behind the scenes. More than anything, they have described an energetic, edgy and competitive personality from a quarterback who, at 22 years and four months, is younger than 11 of the 13 quarterbacks drafted last weekend..
Veteran safety Harrison Smith, the most tenured player on the roster as he enters his 14th season, spent time with McCarthy in Mexico during an NFL Players Association event.
"He's a guy that I enjoy being around a lot," Smith said. "He's his own person and kind of speaks his mind. Has his own way of thinking about things. He's very smart, very invested in football and winning and competing. ... I enjoy my time with him. He's an interesting fellow, and a little smarter beyond his years."
A one-day visit of the team facility in March, meanwhile, left new center Ryan Kelly with a distinct impression.
"He's fiery," Kelly said. "He's got some stuff to him. He's got that energy that you want as a quarterback and as a young guy who missed his entire rookie season. I think you need that edge, where this guy ... wants to prove who he can be in this league. He wants to lead this team to an NFC North title. He wants to go to the NFC Championship Game. The Super Bowl. And I think he also understands that there is a lot he hasn't seen and doesn't know."
Kelly represents a significant portion of the cocoon the Vikings have built. He noted that he spent most of his career with the Indianapolis Colts "in charge of the run game, the pass game, and all the blitz lookups," on-field responsibilities he can carry over in Minnesota for a quarterback that "we know has the fire and the passion to be great [but] just might not be able to see everything right away."
Kelly will be flanked at right guard by his former teammate in Indianapolis, Will Fries, who signed a five-year contract worth $88 million in free agency. The left guard is likely to be Donovan Jackson, the Vikings' first-round draft pick last week.
That means McCarthy will open his first season as an NFL starter behind an offensive line that will be paid a league-high $81.2 million this season, according to Roster Management System. It includes three former first-round picks -- Kelly, Jackson and left tackle Christian Darrisaw -- and one second-round pick (right tackle Brian O'Neill). The Kansas City Chiefs have the NFL's second-most expensive offensive line at $72 million.
"I think you've got to take the mindset of trying to take as much of the things off of any new quarterback's plate," O'Neill said. "How do we as an offensive line play as cohesively as possible? I can't be worried about his fires if I'm not putting out my own fires. The best thing I can do for him is give him a clean pocket every single time."
The Vikings' line will be charged with protecting McCarthy better than it did 2024 with starter Sam Darnold, who took the league's ninth-most sacks (49). Just as important, however, the Vikings hope it will spark a more productive run game -- especially in the red zone and goal-to-go situations -- after its guards and centers last season all ranked in the bottom 10 in run block win rate last season, according to ESPN Research.
To further bolster the running game around McCarthy, the Vikings not only re-signed veteran Aaron Jones ($10 million in 2025) but also acquired veteran backup Jordan Mason (for a 2026 sixth-round pick), signing him to a two-year deal that will pay him $5.5 million. In all, the Vikings have $19.3 million in cash tied up in the running back position this season, third most in the NFL behind the San Francisco 49ers ($24.1 million) and the Philadelphia Eagles ($21.3 million).
The Vikings have been a pass-first team since O'Connell arrived in 2022. Over that period, they have the NFL's fifth-most dropbacks (2,063) and the fifth-fewest rushing attempts (1,254). That's not a formula O'Connell appears willing to maintain with a first-year quarterback.
"It's exciting to draw routes up on a board and come up with new ideas," O'Connell said, "and that stuff's been great, and we've done a lot of really good things here. But time and time again, you continue to think about the ability to get that yard, the ability to go be physical in every game you play, regardless of the opponent.
"The ability to have a collection of five guys up front, playing as one with the type of skill sets and physical ability we have now, gives me really good feelings about what we can be, not only this year, but beyond."
Drafting McCarthy in 2024, which came with up to five years of controlled contract costs on his rookie deal, gave the Vikings an opportunity to shift resources to other positions. They have applied their excess cash budget, and salary cap space, to create one of the NFL's most formidable lineups on both sides of the ball.
Over the past two offseasons, they have signed six new defensive starters and re-signed two incumbents. Of their 22 starting positions, 18 are likely to be filled by a veteran who is on at least his second NFL contract. McCarthy is one of four on a rookie contract, a group that also includes Jackson, receiver Jordan Addison and linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.
"We don't need him to come in and be the Patrick Mahomes of the team right now," safety Josh Metellus said. "He's still trying to figure things out. He still has to play his first game. He still has to get his that angst and stuff out.
"The last thing we want him to do is feel like he has to say the last word to the team [before a game], or say the final words every day. We have a veteran team for a reason: to welcome in a guy like that and so he can just focus on his day-to-day process."
All the same, McCarthy understands that he'll be under enormous pressure as the months progress -- from the public spotlight, if nothing else.
"Personally," he said, "I think the more pressure the better for me because that's something I thrive off of. They always say the clich, that pressure is a privilege, but that's something that you sign up for when you play in the National Football League, especially at the quarterback position. And I feel like pressure, all it does is just bring out what's inside of you, and I feel pretty good about what's inside of me."
