Much of the Minnesota Vikings offseason to this point has been driving the J.J. McCarthy hype train. And make no mistake, there's good reason for that. While we've not seen the 2024 first-round pick on the field in a regular season game yet, the Michigan product is taking over for Sam Darnold in Kevin O'Connell's offense with weapons galore around him. Considering Darnold, once considered a bust, won 14 games with this team, the belief is that McCarthy can be as good if not better. And there's already one thing McCarthy has that Darnold never appeared to: command of the locker room and team.
Vikings insider Kevin Seifert appeared on NFL Live this week and spoke about what McCarthy brings to the table. While Darnold was nary mentioned in the segment with Dan Graziano and Ben Solak, he spoke glowingly about two things with McCarthy, his arm strength and his "personal magnetism". The arms strength has been widely noted throughout offseason workouts, but we continue to hear about him as a leader on the team that his teammates are willing to follow.
"J.J. McCarthy is somebody who, I think we've found out, people want to be around, they want to talk to, they want to be led by and entrust the team to," Seifert said. "People at Michigan probably know that already that watched his career there. But I think that already has taken place in the Vikings locker room."
He also cited veteran Minnesota safety Harrison Smith saying he liked spending time with the young quarterback.
Talked J.J. McCarthy yesterday on NFL Live with @DanGrazianoESPN. And hello, @BenjaminSolak. pic.twitter.com/FsZAiSgx7i
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) July 16, 2025
It's impossible to hear that, especially in July, and not recognize the contrast to what the vibe was around Darnold with the Vikings.
J.J. McCarthy has Vikings leadership that Sam Darnold never seemed to
Make no mistake, Vikings teammates, be it Justin Jefferson, Smith, or whoever else, respected Darnold in the room. Again, the man went on to win 14 games and is a former No. 2 overall pick. They respected the talent and the ability to run O'Connell's much-respected offense. However, there was always seemingly an undercurrent that Darnold lacked exactly what we're talking about with McCarthy now.
There weren't many times, especially in the preseason, when Vikings fans or people around the team talked about Darnold's command of the locker room. Sure, the team believed he could help them win games, but it was never a vibe of "this is the guy we want to lead us into any battle". And frankly, that lack of conversation in that regard was validated at the end of the season and in the playoffs when the bottom seemed to fall out for Darnold.
Now, we still have to see McCarthy put everything together on the field. He played a single preseason game before a season-ending injury kept him on the shelf for his rookie year. He also wasn't asked to shoulder a heavy workload in college. There are certainly unknowns when it comes to McCarthy and how he'll fare at the NFL level.
At the same time, if he does live up to the talent and arm strength, this could legitimately be magic in Minnesota. There is a belief among the team, clearly, that McCarthy is a leader beyond his years and someone who could potentially help the Vikings to not just get back to winning 14-ish games, but to take the next step beyond that. That simply didn't feel like it was ever there with Darnold, but it's abundantly clear that it's in the bulding now.