EAGAN, Minn. — Hours before Monday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears, quarterback J.J. McCarthy will sit beneath one of the goalposts and close his eyes. He’ll cross his legs. He’ll focus on his breath. His meditation will be underway.
It’s about putting aside the pressures of a first NFL start, stalled in part by a meniscus injury and two surgeries.
It’s about putting aside the pressures of replacing Sam Darnold, whose comeback season helped Minnesota win 14 games and make the playoffs — and whom the Vikings could have retained.
It’s about forgetting where Soldier Field sits on a map, less than 20 miles from McCarthy’s hometown.
It’s about putting aside the conversations about winning the NFC North, winning the NFC, winning the franchise’s first Super Bowl.
It’s even about putting aside the notes he’s taken on Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. On his iPad, McCarthy will have copious, color-coded bullet points on Allen’s situational work, his personnel tendencies, his schematic history, his philosophy, his employer history, and more.
McCarthy will try to forget all of that for 10 minutes. Or 20. Or however many minutes it takes.
J.J. McCarthy started meditating in high school. Here he is before the Big Ten Championship Game between Michigan and Purdue in 2022. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)
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“People make it up to be this complex thing where you’ve got to go meditate in the mountains in Tibet for two weeks to really get something done,” McCarthy told me during a press conference at Vikings training camp. “But no, it’s just about being present and just focusing on what’s in front of you, your breath, whatever it may be.”
The legend goes that, at Michigan, he used to take off in his car on weekend nights, skip the frat parties and instead meditate by himself in the woods. That seems pretty dang chill, right? But that’s not my impression of McCarthy. It feels like his meditation might palliate a perfectionism that eats away at him. He’s a guy who wants to eke out every yard, every rep, every bit of value. It’s what got him on the field as the Vikings’ QB1 at age 22.
“That’s kind of the psycho in me,” McCarthy said during camp. “When a player catches a 20-yard high-cross and I’m like, ‘Could have been 30.’ … Good or bad, focus on the next play and kick it in the teeth.”
The more you learn about J.J. McCarthy, the less you know about J.J. McCarthy.
* * * * *
The cicadas were buzzing. It was the last day of training camp in Eagan, Minn. It was a hot and humid 85 degrees. And McCarthy was standing in his own end zone with pass-rushers Jonathan Greenard and Dallas Turner descending.
It had been like this for most of camp: McCarthy under pressure. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is one of the league’s best blitz designers. And even familiarity can’t stop his defense from stumping the offense with regularity.
It was … not chill.
Because it was a scrimmage, there were officials on-site. And one of the referees indicated a sack and safety, just as McCarthy fired the ball into the flat for running back Jordan Mason. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell didn’t like it. His appeal won: no safety. And the offense resumed its drive, only to stall a few plays later. It wasn’t McCarthy’s best drive of camp.
When he left the field, he did what — at least for this practice — was his routine. He stood at O’Connell’s hip and listened. Quarterbacks coach Josh McCown joined them. And so did star receiver Justin Jefferson.
The belief in McCarthy doesn’t just stem from McCarthy. It stems from the group that surrounds him.
“Very intelligent minds, great leaders, all three of them right there,” McCarthy said. “Being able to pick their brains every single day and hear their perspective on every single rep, it’s extremely valuable. Extremely.”
Before playing in an NFL game, McCarthy has now spent two training camps learning at the hip of quarterback guru Kevin O’Connell. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
It’s hard to say exactly how much a quarterback’s circumstances dictate the outcome of his career. It’s easy to say that the circumstances matter. Minnesota’s defense might make life difficult in practice, but the unit helped lead the Vikings to a 14-win season in 2024. O’Connell’s coaching staff is one of the top three in the league. Jefferson is one of the league’s top two receivers. Aaron Jones is one of the best running backs. And though there’s no guarantee the offensive line will improve, the Vikings made two key changes — signing center Ryan Kelly and drafting guard Donovan Jackson in Round 1 — with the intention of making the unit one of the league’s best.
This situation is too good to mess up.
Right?
* * * * *
With a smile everywhere he goes, McCarthy might remind “Ted Lasso” fans of Dani Rojas. For most NFL players, “Football is life,” as Rojas famously said. I’m just not sure many football players take as much joy from the sport as McCarthy does. He is, after all, a guy who draws a smiley face on his hand in Sharpie before every game.
The mark serves as a reminder. McCarthy took his first loss as a starting quarterback in high school, and afterward, a young girl waited in line for an autograph.
Why are you so mad out there? she asked him. You need to smile more.
He explained that it was a bad game for him, and she responded by taking back the Sharpie and drawing a smiley face on McCarthy’s hand.
“It was such a profound moment for how simple it was. I just wore it on my hand for the rest of the games because I took that message to heart, and we went undefeated from there,” McCarthy said back in 2022.
That doesn’t mean the game hasn’t hurt him. It has, badly. Just take a look at the photo of McCarthy standing on the field after TCU beat Michigan in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl.
McCarthy, then a 19-year-old sophomore, finished that game with 343 passing yards, three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing) and two interceptions. And he clearly agonized over that defeat. In the photo, you can see that the confetti has settled on the turf. The TCU mob has condensed. The emotions have settled. The celebration is clearly wrapping up. And there is McCarthy, with his hands behind his back — studying the victors.
“It gives you chills, because if you know him, you know he’s standing there absorbing that, going, ‘That will be me next year and I will not be standing here. Next year, I will be underneath blue and yellow confetti celebrating a national championship,’” said Greg Holcomb, who has been McCarthy’s private quarterback coach since McCarthy was in seventh grade.
“And sure enough, he did it.”
We’ll get to that: the national championship, the work with Jim Harbaugh and the ways McCarthy’s college career did and did not set him up for the draft. Because that also shows us a lot about who McCarthy is.
But let’s talk a little bit about another time the game hurt him — in this case, quite literally. He missed all but one preseason game last year due to his torn meniscus. It was the longest stretch he’d gone without stepping onto a field for a game.
Due to a knee injury, McCarthy spent his rookie year in the NFL watching from the sidelines. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
If football is life, then what was life like without football?
“It was extremely hard,” McCarthy said. “One, not to just play the game of football. I love this sport more than anything in the world. But two, and most importantly, not to be out there with my guys. … Just not being out there, just knowing all the work you put in together, all that shared suffering, not to go out there and really go do it day in and day out. That was the most frustrating thing, especially when game time rolled around and you put on that war paint and that armor.”
McCarthy said his meditation work “paid dividends to my recovery and, most importantly, my growth through that time.” People speculated that, to some degree, the injury was no big deal for McCarthy, who seemed to need a year behind Darnold anyway.
Maybe that’s true, but the injury was a big deal. It split his time between the rigors of being a developing, rookie quarterback — and being a player working back from multiple surgeries. It’s nice when a young QB can simply hold the clipboard, sit in meeting rooms, act as the QB1’s shadow and enjoy osmosis.
That wasn’t McCarthy’s story.
“We had a developmental plan for an injured player, like we would for any player, but particularly at the quarterback position,” Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips told me during a press conference. “But part of that is on the player themselves. There’s only so much time that you want your coaches that are devoted to a particular football game to be trying to spend time with a guy who’s not going to be out there competing on Sunday.”
McCarthy slipped into his complicated role: one-part cheerleader, one part understudy, one part medical patient, one part QB1-in-waiting.
“You’re just a little bit lost [without football],” said Jack Tuttle, McCarthy’s close friend and former Michigan backup. “You’re like, ‘I don’t feel like myself. What’s going on?’ I think that’s where he was, and he was still being a great teammate, cheering everyone on. Which is even more impressive, because you know you’re down and you’re like, ‘I’m not in the place I want to be; I’m not on the field. I’m hurt, but I’m still going to be a great leader.’”
Behind the scenes, McCarthy churned. He memorized the team’s playbook, he watched and questioned and learned from Darnold. He got his knee right. And now, a year later, he’s the Vikings’ QB1.
But it hasn’t come without a few hurdles.
* * * * *
You’ll remember earlier this offseason when Aaron Rodgers flirted with any team that would have him. Before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rodgers spent what felt like a lifetime considering his options. During that time, he spoke with Kevin O’Connell. And it’s easy to wonder whether Rodgers delayed his decision because he hoped that Minnesota might open up a spot for him, which would potentially mean pushing back McCarthy’s arrival by another year.
“[Rodgers] happened to be at a point in time in his career where he was free to have some real dialogue about what his future may look like, and we happened to be one of those teams that he reached out to,” O’Connell said during the NFL owners meetings in March. “I do feel very strongly about where [McCarthy is] at right now, and based upon the information we have from the evaluation process, the time we had with him, I feel very good about projecting a really positive year for J.J.”
Kevin O’Connell (left) and the Vikings spoke with Aaron Rodgers this offseason but ultimately decided to roll with McCarthy as QB1. (Photo by Tom Jenkins/ Getty Images)
The point isn’t really that the Vikings spoke with Rodgers. The point is that they stuck with McCarthy, whom they drafted 10th overall in 2024. He is their guy. They’ve built this offense around him, as best they can, even with Jefferson and Jalen Nailor and left tackle Christian Darrisaw spending most of training camp nursing injuries and receiver Jordan Addison currently serving a suspension.
There are other questions that McCarthy has faced over this offseason of ascent. Some of them stem from the pre-draft process, when the QB’s arm paled in comparison to his draft-class peers, Caleb Williams and Drake Maye. And to be fair, that’s true for most NFL quarterbacks. But it’s a question McCarthy answered nonetheless.
“That’s a great question,” McCarthy said. “I would say, you know, a lot of it just comes with the stigma of playing at Michigan, and not throwing the ball a lot. But at the same time, it could be my frame. They don’t see a 6-5, 240 guy, so how can he throw 61 miles per hour at the combine? But at the end of the day, it’s gonna show up, and the people who know, know.”
The thing that stood out to me wasn’t just his answer. It was the smile on his face before he answered the question. It was almost like he enjoyed the doubting narratives. Like he relished someone getting the skepticism out into the open.
“That’s why I think he kind of smiles and laughs, because he’s like, ‘Wait till you guys see what I have coming?’” Holcomb said. “It’s that, like, ‘Don’t worry about it. I got something for you.'”
McCarthy might be smiling. He might seem chill. But don’t let it fool you. There’s the “pyscho” in him, like he himself said. Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh called McCarthy a “killer.” Whatever that quality is, it will serve him well in 2025, because doubt will come. The haters are ready. Minnesota hasn’t lost a game yet. McCarthy hasn’t thrown an interception. But given all the adversity the Vikings have faced in getting their starters on the field, it’s distinctly possible that Minnesota (and McCarthy) won’t get off to the hot start that everyone expects.
“He’s going to have some bad games, he’s going to make some bad throws, he’s going to have some picks,” Holcomb said. “There’s going to be people that are going to be doubting him and all that stuff. And I just don’t think any of that’s going to get to him, and he’s just going to thrive through all of that.”
It’s important McCarthy knows what to do with doubt. It’s coming.
* * * * *
When a college quarterback transfers into a new program, it’s not customary for the incumbent starter to reach out, let alone welcome the newcomer. Because — speaking of doubt — a newcomer can spell problems for the returners in the QB room.
But McCarthy isn’t a man of custom. He’s his own man. And so when Tuttle transferred from Indiana to Michigan in 2023, he was stunned to see a text from McCarthy.
“A lot of people are awkward about that,” Tuttle said. “There’s only one quarterback on the field, right? So there can be some tension at times, and it can be weird. But the first person to reach out to me was J.J. McCarthy. It was like, ‘Welcome. Can’t wait to have you. Excited to meet you.’”
Keep in mind, McCarthy was 19 years old. He had just lost to TCU. He was a year away from winning the national championship and the Big Ten Quarterback of the Year award. This isn’t to say Tuttle was in an open QB competition with McCarthy, but it was a powerful gesture nonetheless. McCarthy eventually doubled down. When Tuttle showed up for practices, McCarthy went over to his backup QB in the middle of drills.
“Dude, you’re really throwing the ball well,” McCarthy said to Tuttle. “You look great. I’m loving that you’re on this team. You look great right now. I know Coach Harbaugh is happy you’re here. I’m just stoked. I just wanted to tell you that.”
Wow, Tuttle thought to himself. No other quarterback has ever said that to me.
College football is a cutthroat business, particularly now with an ever-flooded transfer portal. McCarthy knew how to tap into that killer instinct. But he also knew it wasn’t the moment for that. No, he used his more relaxed side to demonstrate leadership. McCarthy was younger than a number of his Michigan teammates, including Tuttle. But this balance between chiller and killer — it was at the core of building the Wolverines as national champions.
“I think we all looked up to him, in a way,” Tuttle said.
McCarthy embraced Jack Tuttle when the QB transferred in from Indiana in 2023. Then they became national champions together. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
McCarthy might face questions about his measurable qualities, but he won’t face them about who he is as a person. He has the personal skills, worth ethic and mentality to take charge of an NFL locker room.
“People with ADHD, they find calm in the chaos and chaos in the calm,” said McCarthy, who was diagnosed with the disorder. “I’ve always felt, ever since I was a kid, just any competitive environment I was in, I felt like I was at home. Playing at Michigan, there’s 110,000 [fans in the stands] and you’re at one of the most prominent universities out there. That’s where I feel most comfortable — when the lights are the brightest, the stage is the biggest stage out there.
“And I know it’s going to be a lot more of that to come.”
McCarthy is film-obsessed, often pulling out his iPad to study when he can’t fall asleep. For years as a teenager, he had a whiteboard in his room that he’d use for his notes on each weekly game plan — which he has since consolidated into his iPad. He even had a “GOAT book” growing up, in which he recorded quotes from Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali. With the Vikings, he is engaged in meetings, taking notes and asking questions. He is smooth with the operation of the huddle, getting his guys in, out and up to the line.
“He has a mentality to become great in the league,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said.
“He was a national champion, so I feel like that says everything about him,” Addison said.
“He wants to be great, and he’s hungry,” Aaron Jones said on NFL Network.
His energy is “infectious,” tackle Brian O’Neill said.
You hear superlatives like this all the time when teammates talk about their young QB.
Only McCarthy can prove it all true.
* * * * *
On draft day back in 2021, McCarthy was between his freshman and sophomore years. The then-18-year-old had yet to win the starting job at Michigan — entrenched in a QB competition that he wouldn’t win until the second game of the Wolverines’ season.
Holcomb texted McCarthy: “Are you watching the draft?”
McCarthy: “I am.”
Holcomb: “You’re going to be up here in a few years.”
McCarthy: “Coach, it’s already happened. Time just hasn’t caught up with it yet.”
Take what you want from this story. Holcomb saw it as emblematic of McCarthy’s maturity. I see it as a story of confidence and determination — not of manifesting but of setting and accomplishing goals.
But here’s what I wonder about this story. If Holcomb had texted McCarthy after last year’s Super Bowl, as Jalen Hurts hoisted the Lombardi Trophy — You’re going to be up there in a few years — would McCarthy have responded in the same way?
Coach, it’s already happened. Time just hasn’t caught up with it yet.
Because if McCarthy is the real deal, he might as well have.
Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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