Update on Vikings’ Mandatory Mini-Camp

As the Vikings commemorate the four-year, $140 million extension of the best wide receiver in the NFL, welcome to Justin Jefferson month.

This week was also the Vikings’ required mini-camp. It is likely that they wanted to have the Jets under contract and a player who would be paired with a new quarterback this season. Dalton Risner and the Vikings struck a compromise so that Risner could take part in mini-camp as well.

In order to prepare for the first required session of the off-season, the Vikings have been working hard to develop competition at every position. This generates some interest for the off-season and into training camp as the Vikings get ready for the upcoming campaign.

Let’s examine the situation as it is now and how it might develop in the future.

Competition for Quarterbacks
NFL Insider Tom Pelissero and others have commented on the Vikings’ quarterback competition, saying that Sam Darnold has pleased the team thus far this off-season. Although there are rumors that JJ McCarthy is making good improvement, Darnold is expected to open the season and may even play every minute of it.

This could be Darnold’s best and last opportunity to establish himself as a capable starter in the league. He enters a scenario where he is expected to start (i.e., it is his job to lose), has the best supporting group he has ever had, and is being mentored by two former NFL quarterbacks, one of whom was his rookie mentor, Josh McCown. In spite of the Vikings moving past

This is Darnold’s opportunity to show that he is a capable starter and earn a starting position with a different team the following season. However, Darnold’s stock has been known to drop as soon as the season starts in both training camp and off-season workouts.

In just over a season’s worth of snaps, Darnold has fumbled 18 times and lost 7 of them since leaving the Jets. In that time, he also recorded 17 interceptions. Additionally, his career sack rate is not that low. Darnold brought a lot of his college turnovers with him into the NFL. Although he didn’t play for really excellent teams, his perceived poor processing speed made him a little bit late with

Darnold has another opportunity to establish himself as a capable starter and earn a starting position with a different team next season. However, Darnold has previously had his stock diminished once the season started after looking excellent throughout off-season drills and training camp.

In just more than a season’s worth of snaps, Darnold has fumbled 18 times since leaving the Jets, losing 7. Throughout the same time, he also recorded 17 interceptions. His career sack rate is also comparatively high. Darnold’s high turnover rate in college has followed him into the NFL. Despite not playing for elite teams, he was perceived as having a sluggish processing speed, which led to his occasional tardiness.

McCarthy and Jaren Hall are using the 2s in their play. After the draft and rookie minicamp, the Vikings are also not really showcasing McCarthy to the media at this time, possibly to prevent giving the idea that there is a QB battle. The other reason might be to prevent McCarthy from providing updates on what is probably a steep learning curve at this point—as it would be for any rookie quarterback—and instead keep him concentrated on mastering the system and catching up to NFL speed.

All things considered, it appears the Vikings are not under any obligation to rush McCarthy’s development or use him until the coaching staff believes he is ready. According to Kevin O’Connell, they have a number of benchmarks, such :

McCarthy’s growth, and they won’t think about putting him in until he reaches those benchmarks. In fact, they might test Jaren Hall or Nick Mullens first, even if Darnold struggles miserably right away, rather than pushing McCarthy before he’s ready.

Regarding McCarthy’s apparent development, the consensus among those who have observed him practice thus far seems to be that, if anything, his arm is stronger than he was given credit for during the pre-draft phase. After he was drafted, I wrote a post speculating that this might be the case. McCarthy’s progress toward his goals cannot currently be ascertained, although it doesn’t seem like there is a rush or priority to have him

ready to play in week one, and it doesn’t seem like he’s practicing well enough to seriously challenge Darnold for the starting position just yet. After he was drafted, I had assigned him a 30% chance to start the first week, but all the signs right now suggest that the likelihood is closer to 10%. Although things could alter during training camp and preseason games, joint practices, and other events will undoubtedly have an effect, as of right now, McCarthy appears to have a higher chance of starting following the bye week or possibly the next season than he did during week one.

Competition at the Tight End
TJ Hockenson is rehabilitating from a late-season injury, and it looks like the Vikings have made plans for a longer absence.

season knee injury, given that their roster consists of eight tight ends. Despite appearing to be making significant progress in his rehabilitation, there is mounting speculation that Hockenson might not play for at least a month after the regular season starts—and possibly not until after the bye week. But the Vikings appear to be anticipating playing some games without Hockenson early in the season, as evidenced by the arrival of veteran Robert Tonyan Jr. and N’Keal Harry’s switch to tight end, in addition to two other additions.

In a press conference this week, N’Keal Harry revealed that, while he was a member of the Vikings practice squad last season, he was approached by Kevin O’Connell about switching to tight end.

maybe following Hockenson’s knee injury. Despite being only 26 years old, Harry was a first-round selection at wide receiver in 2019 who disappointed. Nevertheless, he embraced the chance and started preparing at the position on his own prior to the start of OTAs, which allowed him to start playing tight end right away.