J.J. McCarthy plays a series in Vikings’ preseason opener, has a decent outing

There is plenty of interest in how J.J. McCarthy is doing in Minnesota Vikings camp and how he’ll look in the preseason. The Vikings’ first preseason game didn’t solve any mysteries.

McCarthy, Minnesota’s first-round pick in 2024 — who missed all of last season with a knee injury and is taking over as the team’s starting quarterback this season — played just one series against the Houston Texans on Saturday. McCarthy was fine, throwing inaccurately a couple times but doing enough to move the offense and get a field goal.

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The reports on McCarthy out of training camp claim he has been up and down, going against the tough, aggressive Vikings defense in practice. Saturday’s preseason game was mostly a forgettable and short outing.

McCarthy’s longest pass was a 18-yard gain to Jordan Addison, though it wasn’t a great pass. McCarthy moved slightly to his left in the pocket and threw a bit inaccurately to Addison. But Addison made a nice diving catch for the first down. It wasn’t a perfect throw but it got the job done.

McCarthy missed a pass over the middle on third down, throwing wildly to Lucky Jackson. But the Vikings went for it on fourth down and McCarthy scrambled to his right and picked up the first down.

The drive stalled when McCarthy threw to running back Jordan Mason over the middle on third down under pressure and it was knocked away. Mason would have been short of the first down anyway. The Vikings kicked a field goal.

McCarthy went 4 of 7 for 30 yards on the drive. It wasn’t as exciting as his one preseason outing last year, when he had 188 yards and two touchdowns, but it was decent. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell indicated that McCarthy won’t play in the second preseason game, as the team uses joint practices during the week against the Patriots to evaluate starters, and he might not play in the preseason finale either. Saturday’s drive might be the only game action we see from McCarthy before the regular season.

The Vikings chose to not pay Sam Darnold after he had a strong 2024 season and became a free agent, instead moving forward with McCarthy, the 10th pick of last year’s draft. They’ll be second-guessed if it doesn’t work out, after going 14-3 and making the playoffs last season. McCarthy comes into this season as a bit of an unknown, in terms of how he’ll perform as an NFL starting quarterback. Not much got answered against Houston on Saturday.