BREAKING: Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kevin O’Connell donated his entire $5.5 million bonus and sponsorship deal to charities and homeless relief. What he’s doing in a world of compassion indifference is mind-blowing…..
The Vikings are ready for J.J. McCarthy.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer wrote about Minnesota’s quarterback of the future – and present – on Monday, after a conversation with Head Coach Kevin O’Connell about the 2024 10th overall draft pick.
The theme couldn’t be clearer: McCarthy’s talent was palpable before he got injured last August; he was absorbing coaches’ feedback, reaching goals and improving steadily in every facet of his role as an NFL QB.
“It started showing up more and more,” O’Connell told Breer last week. “And that’s always a real positive from my perspective, when you can really start stacking coaching points onto things that he’s showing improvement on or ownership of. His overall understanding of our offense, the comfort level, even in the reps, whether it was versus the No. 1 defense or in competitive situations in practice, you were starting to see him play faster but under control while still maintaining the principles that we’re coaching.”
O’Connell’s confidence in McCarthy’s adaptation to the NFL bloomed rather quickly, Breer recalled:
The first big jump came when McCarthy returned for camp, with the aforementioned homework the staff gave him in mid-June done. Much of it was mundane footwork tweaking relating to the NFL dropback game, which is where the ex-Michigan star’s steepest learning curve laid coming from the Big Ten.
By training camp practices in late July and early August, McCarthy was putting things on tape that pleased Vikings coaches, including better body balance and positioning on different types of dropbacks.
The greatest piece of encouragement, of course, occurred in Minnesota’s exhibition opener at home against the Raiders. In his first opportunity against NFL competition, McCarthy matched the speed of play and operated with a calmness and decisiveness that had everyone, justifiably, excited.
Three specific throws confirmed McCarthy could apply his processing in practice to full-speed game reps. The first was McCarthy’s fourth play of the game, in which he navigated the pocket and found Jalen Nailor for an 18-yard gain over the middle.
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