Vikings HC Kevin O'Connell says first-round QB J.J. McCarthy will get first-team 'reps as well'

The Minnesota Vikings continue to press forward, with Sam Darnold taking the majority of the quarterback reps with the first team.

However, head coach Kevin O’Connell said Tuesday that the club will eventually get first-round rookie J.J. McCarthy some reps with the No. 1s during training camp.

“I’m always going to do whatever I think is best for the team to give us the best chance to win, while also understanding that the journey for a young quarterback in this league — and I’m really talking about both Sam and J.J. McCarthy — is really defined in a lot of ways by things outside of their control,” O’Connell said on NFL Network’s Inside Training Camp Live. “I think we set up a plan to give both those guys a ton of reps throughout training camp. I did feel like Sam, through his work in the spring and where he’s at in his career, earned the right to have the bulk of the first-team reps early on, but we’ve got a plan to get J.J. some reps as well.”

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All offseason, O’Connell has backed Darnold as the starting quarterback to open the season, even as McCarthy is clearly the future. The rookie spent most of the spring taking third-team reps behind Darnold and Nick Mullens.

The revelation that McCarthy will get some first-team snaps is the initial sliver of an inkling that the rookie has an outside shot at swiping the starting gig.

“Listen, I’m so excited about J.J. McCarthy,” O’Connell said. “He’s confirmed in every possible way what we had hoped and really proven in a lot of ways early on to be even more than we hoped from the standpoint of the type of person and player we brought in. That leads to the practice field where he gets to play against Brian Flores’ defense every day and have a true learning environment right in front of our very eyes.”

However, as he has most of the offseason, O’Connell turned a discussion of McCarthy into a defense of Darnold.

“It’s the same thing for Sam,” O’Connell said. “He’s been on a journey from the time he was the third overall pick in the draft. Different spots, different offenses and systems along the way. I think Sam’s in a great spot in his career to have a chance to be the best version of himself with guys like Justin (Jefferson), Jordan (Addison) and T.J. (Hockenson) around him, our offensive line, continuity up front and just our entire team, the way it comes together, hopefully playing good football, staying true to who we want to be and how we want to win games.”

So, O’Connell will shave off some first-team reps for J.J., but it likely doesn’t change the fact that Darnold is still in line to start Week 1, barring a jarring left turn during the preseason.