Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah expect to bring in competition for J.J. McCarthy

Though Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell struck hopeful tones about quarterback J.J. McCarthy‘s progress in their season-ending news conference Tuesday, Jan. 13, both said they expect the team to have competition at the position in 2026.

Injuries and inexperience made McCarthy’s first season as the starter a rocky one for the Vikings, as the 22-year-old completed 57.6% of his passes and threw for 11 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. McCarthy, who started 10 games and played 52.25% of the team’s offensive snaps, posted a 100.4 passer rating in his final four starts, though he left both of his final two games early because of a hairline fracture in his right hand.

“I absolutely want a competitive situation,” O’Connell said. “What that looks like with the reps, I think it’s all predicated on — obviously, J.J. is going to be a major, major emphasis for our staff and our team and me personally. We’ll figure out what that looks like as we navigate, you know, the early part of this offseason when it comes to managing the roster, and I know Kwesi and his staff will do a great job of that.”

Asked whether he wants McCarthy to be the starter in 2026, Adofo-Mensah said: “I want the Vikings to achieve our goals. And I think one of those goals is to make playoff runs. I think he has the character and ability to be the person to do that. If I say that in 2026, that kind of binds us into a certain area.

“The way we’ve set this team up, we built this core like we’ve always talked about, [to] give ourselves multiple shots at it, because you never know when there’s going to be a year where the field feels a little bit wide open and you can make that run. Whether it’s this year or next year isn’t really my immediate reflection. It’s my job to really bring that deep competitive group that we’ve talked about.”

The Vikings tried to re-sign Daniel Jones last March after adding him to their practice squad for the final months of the 2024 season, and sources have said the team offered more money to Jones than did Indianapolis, which signed him to a one-year, $14 million deal. Jones believed he had a better chance to win the Colts’ starting job over Anthony Richardson than he did to claim the Vikings’ starting job from McCarthy. The Vikings traded for Sam Howell during the NFL draft, then signed Carson Wentz in late August after an ineffective camp from Howell.

Adofo-Mensah didn’t agree with the notion the Vikings were overconfident Jones would return, though he said the team thought Jones’ time on the practice squad would impact his decision. But, Adofo-Mensah said, “free agents are free for a reason, and they’re allowed to vet all their options. We could have executed better around that.”

“My conversations with agents are typically focused on that,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We’re going to be honest, as we always are. We’re very transparent in our free agency conversations. We want to be able to play a certain style over 17-plus games, and we’re going to create a competitive environment.”

The Vikings will continue to develop McCarthy, who will train with other QBs in Southern California this offseason before returning to Minnesota in April. He should be able to get more work in this year after recovering from his hand injury than he did last year after returning from knee surgery.

McCarthy, O’Connell said Tuesday, “knows the things he’s going to work on. He knows the things he needs to be a little more consistent at.”

Adofo-Mensah said the Vikings are also talking with the quarterback, who was injured multiple times on plays outside the pocket, about how to balance his on-field tenacity with the need to keep himself healthy.

“Availability is a skill, as they say,” Adofo-Mensah said. “You’re talking about a player who’s incredibly tough, didn’t miss games in college, and that was one of the things we talked about when we went to the people at Michigan. They told us the things he fought through, and different things like that. And that’s really not different than the player we’ve gotten here. And so ultimately, that is something that we’re mindful of, given just how it’s happened. We can control though, how we get him right from a mechanical standpoint, from a decision-making standpoint, to protect himself. But that mindset — me versus them, I’m going to get this last yard — that’s also what the great ones have. So for me to sit here, or anybody else to tell him to be a different version of himself, it’s a delicate balance.

Were the Vikings too optimistic in thinking McCarthy could develop on the fly while leading a playoff push for a veteran team coming off a 14-3 season? Adofo-Mensah said Jan. 13 they were aware McCarthy would face difficulty in his first year and focused on surrounding the No. 10 overall pick in 2024 with veterans who could help him withstand them.

Adofo-Mensah acknowledged the fact that starting McCarthy, whose 713 passes at Michigan were fewer than any of the six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 draft, required some projection.