J.J. McCarthy minicamp reps may not induce headlines — but that's OK (and intentional)

New York Times

2 days ago

EAGAN, Minn. — The second mandatory minicamp practice had just finished, and there was the Minnesota Vikings' new center Ryan Kelly, cradling his helmet next to the field and saying things like, 'This is the most talented team I've ever been around top to bottom.'
You really feel that way?
'Oh yeah,' Kelly said. 'It's impressive.'
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His former team, the Colts, hasn't had the rosiest recent past. Indianapolis only made the playoffs twice in Kelly's nine-year tenure with the club, but still, this observation means something. The 32-year-old knows his way around a locker room. He's played for multiple coaches, snapped the ball to plenty of quarterbacks and rubbed shoulders with almost every type of teammate. Kelly saying this was — at the bare minimum — internal validation of the widely held external beliefs about these Vikings.
With elite talent comes immense responsibility, especially at quarterback. There is a reason J.J. McCarthy is a popular talking point in the NFL universe. There is a reason he is deserving of space right here. His burden is large. These Vikings, built to go further than was realistically possible in years past, will succeed or fail with the youngster. Kelly understands that.
'I think that's also why I'm here,' he said.
He's right. Kelly's presence is just one of the countless steps taken by coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to maximize what's possible. It's not that former Vikings center Garrett Bradbury didn't have experience, especially within Minnesota's system. Kelly, though, is both a better player and a key cog who has worked with different quarterback personalities, skill sets and experience levels. Andrew Luck, Jacoby Brissett, Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, Anthony Richardson and others require varying degrees of assistance.
One might suspect Kelly would be spending these practices passing tidbits to McCarthy. He's not. This, too, is calculated. Why make things easy when there is no report card? Why not challenge McCarthy to assess all of the potential defensive looks? Why not evaluate what it looks like when he has to take everything in, then spit out play calls with lengthy verbiage? Why not ask him to adjust protections and try to get the offense into the right play?
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Why remove an aspect of traditional development simply because you have a center who can serve as a backstop?
'If you never have to do all of this,' Kelly said, 'you're looking through it like a tiny lens. In order to see the full picture, you have to have coaches who demand that of you. His development to understand is more important than me showing how capable I am. We want to push this guy, and he's responded incredibly well. He's a very smart guy.'
The extent of the demands is partially why O'Connell scoffs at those who track McCarthy's results on days like these. McCarthy may progress from the front side of a concept to the back side and hit a receiver in stride, but could he have identified something in the coverage that would have quickened his progression? McCarthy may drill a receiver running a go route, but did he make that throw because the play call required so many words that he couldn't get it off in time?
9️⃣ to 3️⃣
🎯🎯 pic.twitter.com/0Q1cvFH0Xn
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 10, 2025
This mental stress is but a fraction of what it'll feel like on Sundays in the fall. It's also just one component of the full picture that allows the most successful quarterbacks to thrive.
There is the physical piece, encompassing everything from lower-half mechanics to the touch applied to throws upon release. The Vikings have never questioned McCarthy's sheer arm strength. They're looking for progress in his ability to induce an arc on the ball.
There is the cognitive piece, the split-second decision-making process after the snap. Can you visualize the defense's structure and pull the trigger at the right time? Can you do it with 300-pound men bearing down on you in 2 1/2 seconds?
There is also the psychological piece. Navigating real-world stressors and in-game trials calls for a sense of calm.
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Each piece affects the other. Sounds easy, right?
'I think (J.J.) is right where he needs to be right now,' offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said Wednesday. 'And right where we thought he'd be. I don't think he'd come up here and say he mastered the offense. Every rep is a learning rep.'
Every one of these days is an integral learning day, as cliched as that sounds, or as mundane as it looks. Although the Vikings shifted from organized team activities last week to minicamp this week, the speed of the drills remained the same. McCarthy has not taken one snap in an 11-on-11 setting with defensive coordinator Brian Flores' pass rush coming at him with its collective hair on fire.
That doesn't mean Kelly, offensive line coach Chris Kuper, quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and O'Connell aren't conferring after practice about the next test they think would be valuable for McCarthy. That doesn't mean these opportunities aren't the ones that will allow all of the pieces of the puzzle to come together as smoothly as possible when it matters most.