In Minnesota they devised a program to keep McCarthy very connected with all the activity of the team
Eagan, Minnesota – the past fall, the coach of the Minnesota Vikings, Kevin O’Connellhe cleared his agenda for an hour a week. He left aside the planning of parties, the preparation of training and the study of videos. He made sure not having programmed equipment meetings, press conferences, or telephone calls that should be returned.
Instead, Kevin O'Connell focused his attention on the most important long -term asset of the franchise: the field marshal J.J. McCarthy.
Both dedicated that time to meet individually at the O'Connell office, a centerpiece of an extensive program organized by the Vikings (while attending the immediate needs of a regular season of 14-3), to ensure that McCarthy's rookie year was not a total failure.
Unable to play due to a meniscus break in the right knee and with the prohibition of training according to the NFL rules for players in the injured list, McCarthy remained compromised and demonstrated sufficient development to enter the 2025 training camp as the titular field marshal planned by the Vikings.
“I just wanted to give him a platform with me,” O'Connell told ESPN. “Maybe it was American football one day. Maybe it was not American football. It is very difficult to find time during the season, but I just wanted to make sure we were together.”
“The only thing I learned about him in those meetings is that he had excellent questions, and that confirmed that he was receiving and taking advantage of that time. And as I have told him, he doesn't really guarantee anything, but once you fight daily for growing within the system, he could trust in part of what we did together.
Why the Vikings They said goodbye to the head of 2024, Sam Darnoldand incidentally, they became the first team in the NFL's history to allow a field marshal to leave a year after launching at least 30 TouchDown passes?
Why did they accept the outputs of Daniel Jones y Nick Mullenswho spent time in the vikings squad last campaign, and stopped hiring the free agent Aaron Rodgers?
Why are the Vikings delivering a team ready for the playoffs to a 22 -year -old who became the first selected field marshal in the first round during the modern era of the NFL Draft (1967) to lose all his rookie season for injury?
Part of the answer is related to the long -term philosophy of the Vikings. JJ McCarthy's rookie contract, which entails an increase in the salary stop of only 4.9 million dollars this season and 5-9 million in 2026, is a key piece for the construction of the template. But the rest is due to the work between McCarthy racks during the five months after his injury (suffered on August 10), both in his meetings with O'Connell and the growing workload of the projects created by the coach of field marshal, Josh McCown.
In the highly structured NFL world, the Vikings found creative ways to include McCarthy in their day to day.
The process began when McCarthy was confined to a posoperative scooter that allowed him to travel the wide training facilities of the team, but without supporting the weight on his right leg. Still used to handle the scooter, McCarthy put him reverse and accidentally hit the framework of the O'Connell office. “A small disconchón of paint,” McCarthy said “but nothing more.”
Kevin O'Connell scheduled the meetings for what he called the “ideal moment” of the game week, after the coaches offered the offensive plan, including the third opportunity package. Usually that used to be held on Thursday afternoon.
By then, JJ McCarthy had observed how Sam Darnold assimilated the game plan during field seafood meetings. These meetings ended, and while active players went to the costumes to prepare for training, McCarthy was heading to the O'Connell office and went through a mental process that the rookie otherwise would have experienced in the field.
“That way,” explains O'Connell, “when he sees the video of that training that night, and later, when he could finally start watching training, he saw if we were driving the meeting correctly.”
McCarthy had access to the traditional recording of the game, as well as a dedicated camera that the Vikings placed in Darnold's helmet, which allowed him to see not only where Darnold looked before and after the SNAP, but also listen to what he said along with the offensive line and even defensive signs. That recording could be seen on the panoramic screen that the Vikings installed in their Draft room and with virtual reality equipment.
In a few weeks, according to O'Connell, the attention focused more on understanding how McCarthy managed his recovery after missing a full season of American football. In an interview with “The Rich Eisen Show” in January, McCarthy recalled that “much of the effort focused on life, knowing and developing that chemistry that a field marshal and a chief coach, especially an offensive coordinator, need.”
Kevin O'Connell commented: “This player succeeded at all levels at which he has played and took something for a whole season. And he is still very young, both age and experience in the NFL.”
“So sometimes you felt that you had to say: 'Let's not talk about protection blitzes, progressions, foundations or technical.' It was: 'How are you doing it?'
One of the advantages of a field marshal coach like McCown, who played for 12 teams over 18 seasons in the NFL, is that he has seen everything. He knows that field marshals in the lower part of the standings, or in the reserve of injured, can pass the seasons with minimal attention.
“Sometimes,” McCown reflexion, “it's simply 'out of view, out of mind.'”
The Vikings knew that they could not afford such neglect with McCarthy. McCown developed a list of tasks, some routine and others of greater level, to include McCarthy as far as possible. A few weeks, he asked McCarthy to score all the third opportunity plays of the Vikings in his weekly game plan, so that the rest of the field marshal could consult them during a video session.
“Something like that is a tedious job,” said McCown, “but helps you memorize. And then, at random times, we asked questions about it.”
“Above all we interact with Sam and ask about the plays, and you don't know what JJ is assimilating and what is not. But occasionally, I said: 'Hey, JJ, what do you think of this?' You try to connect with him as if he were playing, and he dominated everything. ”
When the rest of the field marshals were heading to the locker room, McCarthy and McCown remained in the meeting room, mentally reviewing what I would have experienced in training.
“Can you give us the information?” McCown recalls. “That is what we asked, and always right, which was very encouraging.”
Another project included investigating and writing profiles of rival defensive coordinators, including which trainers they belonged to connect their schemes with those of other teams, as well as recruiter reports on defensive players.
“It was about knowing all the details and all the initial heavy work,” McCarthy said, “when I had time for it. So (this year) I do not have to devote much time to things that are not going to manifest in an outstanding way, but make sure to be efficient with my preparation and the study of my game plan.”
Sometimes, McCown asked McCarthy to present information to the group.
“It's not just listening and learning,” says McCown. “Can you process that information and give it? I think that is essential because you try to find all possible ways to keep your mind focused on American football, process it, how to attack the opponent, how to analyze things.”
“And that was what I said: 'You have to take this time to prepare as if you were the player and discover what you like and what not the preparation process; it will help you get where you need to get when you are in that position one day'”
JJ McCarthy took the initiative on his own. The defensive Tackle Harrison Phillips He said McCarthy approached him shortly after his injury to interrogate him about how to identify defensive formations. “Simply ask those interesting questions,” Phillips said.
Every week, McCown asked McCarthy to give him his notes to be able to check what he was capturing and what did not.
Kevin O'Connell evaluated McCarthy's work in this way: “Sometimes it is difficult to know exactly someone's intelligence. What will really be able to retain when he begins to process a lot of information? And I think he has proven to have a high level intelligence, and it is very valuable.”
Despite effortsthe Vikings know that McCarthy lost some key development opportunities last season, including apparently harmless moments such as directing the Cazatalentos team.
“It's like going to the field of practices,” McCown said. “It is where you practice with all your sticks. There are no consequences, so to speak, and you really learn different types of releases that you can do in different windows.”
“Sometimes defensive coaches ask you to file the ball to such a player, so the launch is appropriate. I better anticipate me. Thus you perfect your anticipation ability. And that is the most difficult thing that it cannot necessarily be replaced, simply not being in the field.”
During the fall, McCarthy began writing in what he called a “journal of gratitude”, a practice he learned at the University of Michigan with Coach Greg Harden, who died in September. McCarthy believed that he would help him focus on the benefits of what he could do as a player in the list of injured, instead of obsessing what he could not.
“I had not had an injury like this that would leave me out of play for so long,” said McCarthy, “and was very grateful for the opportunity I really had to start something in the mental aspect of the game.”
“Being in tune (with O'Connell) has been incredible. Last season, see how I narrated the games and all that, as well as the intricate personality features of the team's boys, and their ability to support those who help strengthen the group in general and strengthen them individually, and be there for them when things do not come out as expected.”
