J.J. McCarthy, at 22, is the youngest starting quarterback in the NFL and firmly entrenched in the Gen Z age group, which the Pew Research Center defines as those born between 1997 and 2012.

Most of McCarthy’s teammates and coaches are quick to tell you he’s an old soul, wise beyond his years and more mature than some might assume.

“He is Gen Z, but I wouldn’t say his personality is very Gen Z,” 27-year-old safety Josh Metellus said. “He’s a pretty mature guy for his age. You don’t really see the Gen Z popping out on him. Obviously, you get to talking about stuff from the past and you can see it really quick, but it’s not too bad.”

Even if not all of his vocabulary and references stem specifically from his age group, there’s still a uniqueness to McCarthy that older teammates and coaches like 36-year-old safety and fellow captain Harrison Smith or 46-year-old offense coordinator Wes Phillips can’t help but call “interesting.”

Here’s some words and phrases you may have seen in McCarthy’s social media posts or heard during his news conferences:

The Latin phrase meaning “love of one’s fate” went viral several months after McCarthy used it on social media and public comments after his knee injury in August 2024. It hit the mainstream when it was the episode title and used in the season finale of Season 3 of HBO’s “The White Lotus.“ “I’m a huge believer in ‘life happens for you, not to you,’” McCarthy said in September 2024.

The phrase has roots in Jamaica, where it is used to wish someone well and was popularized by a dancehall artist. Canadian rapper Drake then took the phrase global when he used it as the title for a 2017 mixtape. McCarthy has occasionally used the phrase as a location tag on his Instagram posts.

A sister phrase to IQ (intelligence quotient). Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said emotional intelligence was a strength of McCarthy’s when the team drafted him. McCarthy said he first heard of EQ from his fiancée’s dad. “It’s just the ability to connect with others to build relationships because at the end of the day, you’re going to war every single Sunday and to be able to be a part of a true family and to have those relationships on and off the field that are willing to die for each other,” McCarthy said.

Asked about phrases McCarthy uses a lot around the locker room, right tackle Brian O’Neill, 29, said with a laugh: “If you tell him something that he likes, sometimes he’ll say ‘Tasty.’” It didn’t seem McCarthy uses the phrase explicitly about food, but more as a catch-all for enjoying something.

At the start of training camp this summer, McCarthy said that “father books” were at the top of his reading list. He and his fiancée, Katya Kuropas, are expecting their first child, a son, this month.

But he’s shared other recommendations since arriving in Minnesota, too.

Harden, who died last September, was a renowned athletics counselor at Michigan until 2020. Retired quarterback and Michigan grad Tom Brady wrote the foreword to Hardy’s book.

“Those are just all books that really kind of helped me throughout this process of trying to strengthen this [knee],” McCarthy said last fall.

Metellus, also a former Wolverine, said he put McCarthy on to Mel Robbins’ 2024 book “The Let Them Theory,” which hit mainstream in recent months.

McCarthy’s meditation practices first went viral while he was at Michigan, but he’s said he relied on them “every single day, multiple times a day” throughout his recovery process this past year.

Metellus said he’s asked McCarthy many questions about meditation. He also said McCarthy has a special device he uses in the locker room while he meditates, often not moving for 30 minutes pre-practice.

McCarthy said in late April that he also picked up gratitude journaling during his rehabilitation. The practice has become a trend in recent years, with companies selling branded journals with prompts inside and many TikTok videos showing audiences how to make one.

With McCarthy’s hyper-focus on health and wellness, it fits that he’s a frequent wearer of the Alo Yoga brand. He’s even seen meditating against a tree in an all-Alo outfit in a recent video posted to his Instagram with the brand tagged.

Alo Yoga, founded in 2007, has become popular among Gen Z in the past few years, thanks to celebrities and influencers not just wearing their clothes but also attending workout classes at an invite-only wellness studio within their headquarters in Beverly Hills. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is also partnered with the brand.

Sign up for the free Access Vikings newsletter to get exclusive analysis in your inbox every Friday. You can also subscribe to the “Access Vikings” podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.