J.J. McCarthy stood in front of reporters for the final time on June 12 before leaving minicamp. Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks must report for training camp another 38 days later. Some players use this time for vacation. They will take a step back from football before it consumes their lives for the next six months.
McCarthy acknowledged he will do what he can to rejuvenate his body after suffering a meniscus tear last season. He will also need to prepare for his baby shower. But that doesn’t mean he’s abstaining from all football-related activity until July 20.
“[I want to] take advantage of this time with the guys and just get as many reps as I can with Justin [Jefferson], Jordan [Addison], T.J. [Hockenson], [and] all the guys,” McCarthy said, “and just make sure that we hit this ground running when we get back here on July 20.”
“Will you stay here or will you go find those guys and throw with them wherever they’re going to be?” a reporter asked.
“I’ll stay here,” McCarthy said, before adding, “but if I have to go find them, I will, for sure.”
It was the latest example of McCarthy showcasing the edge he brings to his personality. On June 9, the Vikings’ social media team shared McCarthy’s behind-the-scenes player intro video. McCarthy unleashed a primal scream in it, a stark contrast to past quarterbacks like Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins, or even Case Keenum.
He developed that edge in high school. While Ohio State head coach Ryan Day recruited him in 2019, McCarthy felt that Day had misled and lied about his intentions. Day instead chose to move forward with Kyle McCord, ending McCarthy’s dream of quarterbacking the Buckeyes, his favorite college team growing up.
“I get it’s a business,” McCarthy said in high school. “But it always sucks being lied to. And that’s kind of where the rivalry started for me, and the hatred. But what are you going to do? It’s a business and they have to do what they have to do. They lied to my face, but it’s all good now.”
Instead, McCarthy went to Michigan, Ohio State’s biggest rival. He may have said things were fine after the recruiting incident. Still, he wanted to do more than just prove Ohio State wrong.
“I used to love them,” he said of Ohio State. “Now I want to kill them.”
McCarthy went 2-0 as a starter against the Buckeyes. The second victory sent the Wolverines to the Big 10 title game, and they eventually won the national championship. Perhaps the Buckeyes would have won it all had they committed to McCarthy.
McCarthy’s teammates see he’s doing more than just giving great soundbites to reporters. Harrison Phillips sees him taking on the same leadership responsibilities that Josh Allen did as a young quarterback in Buffalo.
“He’s got some confidence,” Phillips said of McCarthy, “and he reminds me of Josh Allen when I was with him in Buffalo coming into his own and understanding the power that he has to lead this organization, and he’s doing a fantastic job.”
McCarthy is taking the necessary steps to become and be perceived as a leader in the NFL. That can be a tall task for a 22-year-old whose only NFL experience came in one preseason game. Still, it’s a challenge that even the best NFL quarterbacks face.
It took years for Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young to feel like he had established himself as a leader. Young had won an NFL MVP award in 1992 and led the San Francisco 49ers to two NFC Championship Game appearances in 1992 and 1993. Yet, a Week 5 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994 marked the moment when he and his teammates viewed him as a leader.
The Eagles were crushing the Niners 33-8 in the third quarter. On second down, 49ers head coach George Seifert pulled Steve Young from the game. Cameras caught Young screaming at his coach and other assistants on the sidelines in the fourth quarter.
Young boiled over after years of backing up Joe Montana and playing for a head coach with whom he didn’t always get along. But his teammates saw a fiery competitor standing up for himself. Tight end Brent Jones, Young’s best friend on the team, said players got behind Young after that.
“There were a lot of guys that said, ‘Hey, wait a second. This guy’s got some fight to him,” Jones later said. “I like that guy. I want a guy that’s not afraid to tell George Seifert to jump in the lake.”
At first, Young was irritated. To him, he was the same player and leader before and after the incident. But he learned that no matter how he perceived himself, it didn’t matter if others didn’t see it the same way.
“Perception is reality,” Young wrote in his autobiography years later. “I had worked hard my entire career to establish myself as a leader. But I wasn’t a leader until I was perceived as one. You become a leader in times of trouble. Leaders emerge when things don’t go well. When everyone else starts pointing fingers, a leader takes responsibility.”
The incident galvanized the 49ers. They were 3-2 when Young went off, and they won their next ten games. Young finally got over the NFC Championship hump. He won Super Bowl XXIX MVP honors after throwing for a Super Bowl-record six touchdowns in a 49-26 win over the San Diego Chargers.
McCarthy is doing all he can to be perceived as a leader. He’s saying the right things. He’s hanging out with players outside of the practice facility. Early returns show that McCarthy has shown improvement on the field as a quarterback, giving reason to believe he can match his leadership abilities with functional quarterback play.
He missed the 2024 season due to a torn meniscus, but McCarthy stayed around teammates and coaches as much as possible. He may not have been on the field when things didn’t go well for the Vikings. But when he was at his lowest moment, he showed he was still able to be present and absorb information. That also helped show leadership to others that may be hard to project as a 21-year-old rookie who isn’t battling every Sunday.
Cousins struggled to escape his public perception. People believed he was all about the money because of his fully guaranteed three-year, $84 million deal in 2018. In the 2023 Netflix documentary Quarterback, he said he took every Tuesday off during the season to spend it with family.
Taking Tuesdays off may offer Cousins balance and highlight that he prioritizes family. However, from a leadership standpoint, it may not go over well for a locker room full of players who may or may not have a wife and children. Even if they have their own families, do they have the roster or financial security to take Tuesdays off during the season?
McCarthy is doing everything he can to show he can be the face of the franchise. He’s saying and doing all the right things to tell everyone around him that he is the leader of the team. In doing so, there’s little room to nitpick how much he cares or his motives.
His leadership will be tested mentally and physically on the field. He probably doesn’t need to scream at Kevin O’Connell on the sideline, but it could manifest during a random midseason loss.
Some have questioned whether McCarthy has what it takes to be the team’s long-term quarterback. They could ask why he threw a mindless red-zone interception or held on to the ball too long as Jefferson streaked open downfield.
How McCarthy answers those questions won’t matter if his coaches and teammates perceive his answers differently than he does. But if their perception of him matches how he views himself, the Vikings will finally have their first franchise quarterback since Fran Tarkenton.
