Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy prepares for his first NFL game, hoping for ‘a vanilla defense’

Asked what he’s most eager to see in his first NFL game at U.S. Bank Stadium on Saturday afternoon, J.J. McCarthy needed little time to think of the answer.

”Just a vanilla defense, honestly,” he said.

When the Vikings took McCarthy with the 10th pick in the draft in April, the quarterback landed in the spot he said all six first-round QBs wanted to be: an offense filled with weapons, a coaching staff stocked with former NFL QBs ready to teach, a spacious home stadium and a six-year-old practice facility still viewed as the class of the NFL.

It also meant he would begin his NFL indoctrination facing a defense coordinated by Brian Flores, whose taste for eclectic coverage schemes and exotic blitzes would not be dulled to make things easier for a rookie.

“Every defense has their own individual tell, and their own player that will be a key for you to un-disguising their defense,” McCarthy said Wednesday. “But going against one that’s always moving and running a bunch of different coverage and blitz variations, it’s nice to get the 400-level training before you go down to the 100, 200 level. It’s gonna be a lot easier [on Saturday], I can already tell you right now, and it’s very fun watching film, just understanding the simplicity of it that’s coming my way.”

Coach Kevin O’Connell has not said yet whether McCarthy will start or how much he will play against the Raiders in the Vikings’ preseason opener, but the exhibition schedule could be valuable for McCarthy, especially if the Vikings remain committed to not rushing him into the starting job. He shares the No. 2 quarterback job with Nick Mullens, behind Sam Darnold on the Vikings’ first unofficial depth chart, and seems unlikely to take over the top job at the start of the regular season, barring a four-week stretch that convinces O’Connell and the team’s offensive staff that there’s no reason to wait.

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The 21-year-old McCarthy has embraced the Vikings’ emphasis on the process for now, turning to coaches for immediate feedback after a practice snap and critiquing film of himself to identify habits he needs to refine. He credited Flores with reminding him to use his pre-snap cadence “as a weapon” that can unnerve defenders or lure them into revealing plans, and he has copied the tactic Mullens once taught Kirk Cousins of recording play names into his phone and listening back to voice memos so he can mimic hearing O’Connell‘s call in his headset.

McCarthy’s practice last Friday was his roughest of the Vikings’ camp; McCarthy said he was rushing through his footwork and reads, forgetting the advice Peyton Manning gave him before the draft to “respect the NFL, but don’t over-respect it.” To move on from it, he turned to the practice that started as an accident his freshman year at Michigan but has since become a habit.

“I have this thing whenever I have a bad practice: I keep my tights on the whole night,” he said. “It’s a little dirty, but it’s a good metaphorical way for me to let it go. Because at the end of the night, standing in front of the mirror, I’ll just kind of debrief how the day went, what I did in the morning, what was different from the [previous] days that were successful, and just the overall feeling and vibe of that day. And once I go through that, I look myself in the eye and say, ‘That’s all gone. We’re letting go and moving on to the next day.’ I take those tights off, and don’t think about it ever again.”

His fiancée, Katya Kuropas, ”actually never knew” about the habit, he said — “and never knew until now, probably,” he added with a smile at the news conference the Vikings were broadcasting on social media.

It’s become part of a routine McCarthy says he will lean on as he begins his NFL career. “I think the thing I’ve been most proud of is, that one bad day I had, it wasn’t an ideal outcome, but I learned so much,” he said. “And then I came out the next day and had a really good, solid performance.”

The defenses he faces on Saturday figure to be simpler than what he’s seen in camp. His task will be to manage the excitement he knows will come with his first game.

”No matter what, playing in U.S. Bank Stadium, there’s always going to be sizzle,” McCarthy said. “Just hearing about it, just feeling the energy of this fan base, I know it’s going to be a live audience, a live environment. I can’t wait to go out there with the boys and put on display what we’ve been doing since April.”

Before the Vikings face the Raiders on Saturday, special teams coordinator Matt Daniels took the team’s specialists to U.S. Bank Stadium on Wednesday morning. There, rookie kicker Will Reichard got his first chance to practice on the stadium’s new turf.

The Vikings replaced their slit film turf with a monofilament surface at both U.S. Bank Stadium and their indoor practice facility before this season. Daniels said the new surface was met with good early reviews.

”It’s definitely a lot more bouncy, a lot more springy,” Daniels said. “It definitely has more grip to it, which is encouraging. They felt good about their plants, they felt good about their steps from a punting and kicking standpoint. I think it’s a good change.”

Wide receiver Justin Jefferson, who’d missed Tuesday’s practice for personal reasons, was back as a full participant on Wednesday. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw also returned after spending Tuesday in the training room and missing the last portion of the Vikings’ previous practice on Saturday.

Jefferson had an impressive connection with Sam Darnold on Wednesday, as the QB found him for a red zone touchdown while rolling to his right before hitting Jefferson on a corner route down the sideline over physical coverage from Byron Murphy Jr.

Running back Aaron Jones was on the field Wednesday but did not practice. Neither did Jonathan Greenard, though the linebacker said, “I’m good,” after practice when asked if he was dealing with an injury.