The Minnesota Vikings closed the preseason with a 34-6 loss to the Denver Broncos on Friday night at Empower Field at Mile High, and they did it without quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
McCarthy was ruled out before kickoff because of an injury. That was a setback for a player still competing for a backup role as the regular season approaches.
Coach Kevin O’Connell said afterward that the plan had been different. The Vikings hoped McCarthy would be available enough to take the field.
“It was just something that we hoped to get him turned over,” O’Connell said postgame. “The goal was to try to get him, have him start the game tonight and try to get him a half if we could.
“There was a group of guys we were going to have play to start the game that we were hoping to get reps, as we talked about earlier in the week. They’re so massive, and we just couldn’t get him turned over and couldn’t get him there.”
Minnesota now turns to roster decisions. NFL teams must trim their active rosters by Sunday, Aug. 30, and O’Connell said the staff will start with the full picture rather than one position.
“We’re going to obviously evaluate our entire depth chart,” O’Connell said. “First and foremost, we’ve got to cut down our football team, which is going to be a tough couple of days, and figure out our practice squad and potential additions to the roster at different positions.
“We’re going to work through that as a staff and see where he’s at from a health standpoint, first and foremost. We don’t have any long-term concerns.”
That last line mattered. The coach did not describe a season-ending problem. He also did not say where McCarthy sits behind the other quarterbacks.
Kyler Murray is widely expected to open the year as the starter. Carson Wentz is viewed by many around the team as the likely No. 2. That would leave McCarthy, a former first-round pick, as the third quarterback if he remains on the 53-man roster.
Last season, McCarthy took 310 pass snaps as the starter and earned a 61.8 overall grade from Pro Football Focus. He threw for 1,632 yards and 11 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. He also recorded 19 big-time throws and 15 turnover-worthy plays.
Those numbers left a mixed impression. He showed flashes. He also put the ball in harm’s way often enough that the Vikings added more experience this offseason.
Former NFL quarterback Matt Leinart offered a blunt read of that situation during an Aug. 26 appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.”
“You get in there [and] you don’t have maybe the guys around you [and] you don’t play extremely well; you only get one or two opportunities in this league, and then you’re done,” Leinart said.
“They bring in a guy like Kyler Murray. I’m assuming Carson Wentz might be the backup, right? J.J. McCarthy might not be on the team. Big picture, I think it’s an opportunity for him to take a step back and understand, ‘Hey, this is where I need to get better, learn and grow.’”
That is the tension facing Minnesota now. Keeping a former high draft pick as QB3 uses a roster spot that could go to another position. Cutting or trading him would close a chapter sooner than the team once expected.
A trade would not have to happen before Week 1. It could come later if another club loses a starter to injury or poor play and needs help before the deadline.
For the moment, O’Connell is not drawing that map in public. Health comes first, he said, then the rest of the depth chart, then the hard calls that follow every preseason.
McCarthy’s next step may be as simple as getting healthy enough to practice. Whether that is enough to keep him in Minnesota is the question the Vikings will answer over the next two days.
