2025 Pass/Rush Stats
YDS
143
TD
2
INT
1
YDS
25
TD
1
Rest-of-Season Projections
2025 Fantasy Outlook
McCarthy was supposed to compete with Sam Darnold last season, but a meniscus tear in his right knee during training camp ended his rookie season. McCarthy was healthy for OTAs and is expected to start Week 1 this season. The Vikings must be confident of that, because they let Darnold leave and settled for Sam Howell and Brett Rypien as backups. There's still the question of whether McCarthy is ready for the NFL after spending his apprentice year rehabbing instead of practicing. The 10th pick in the 2024 draft, McCarthy has a strong arm and good mobility, but his mechanics drew criticism from scouts pre-draft, and he averaged only 22.4 pass attempts per game in his two seasons as a starter for loaded Michigan teams. Fortunately, Vikings wideouts Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison cover a lot of ills, and McCarthy is in a good situation under coach Kevin O’Connell, who gave Darnold 545 attempts last season. With the addition of RB Aaron Jones and subtraction of QB Kirk Cousins, the Vikings’ pass percentage dropped to 56.6 last season (from about 64 percent the previous two years). Minnesota remade an offensive line that struggled to protect Darnold late in the season, signing C Ryan Kelly and RG Will Fries, two of the top free-agent linemen, before drafting G Donovan Jackson in the first round. The Vikings also hope to have star LT Christian Darrisaw healthy after he suffered an ACL tear Week 8 last season. McCarthy should even add some rushing stats, assuming his knee holds up, as he’s an excellent athlete who ran for 632 yards and 10 TDs during his college career. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Signed a four-year, $21.85 million contract with the Vikings in July of 2024.
Leads comeback victory Monday
McCarthy completed 13 of 20 passes for 143 yards with two touchdowns and one interception while adding two carries for 25 yards and another score in the Vikings' 27-24 win over the Bears on Monday night. He also threw a two-point conversion pass.
ANALYSIS
Making his long-awaited regular-season debut, McCarthy mostly scuffled through the first three quarters before igniting a 21-point outburst in the final period. The 2024 first-round pick connected with Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones for fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 13 and 27 yards, respectively, and he followed those scoring strikes with a 14-yard touchdown run to extend Minnesota's 20-17 lead at the 2:53 mark of the fourth quarter. McCarthy also completed a two-point conversion to Adam Thielen, and he connected with seven different targets overall when factoring in that scoring toss. The second-year signal-caller now will prepare for his home regular-season debut, a Week 2 matchup against the Falcons on Sunday night.
Making his long-awaited regular-season debut, McCarthy mostly scuffled through the first three quarters before igniting a 21-point outburst in the final period. The 2024 first-round pick connected with Justin Jefferson and Aaron Jones for fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 13 and 27 yards, respectively, and he followed those scoring strikes with a 14-yard touchdown run to extend Minnesota's 20-17 lead at the 2:53 mark of the fourth quarter. McCarthy also completed a two-point conversion to Adam Thielen, and he connected with seven different targets overall when factoring in that scoring toss. The second-year signal-caller now will prepare for his home regular-season debut, a Week 2 matchup against the Falcons on Sunday night.
NFL Stats
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Fantasy/Red Zone Stats
See red zone opportunities inside the 20, 10 and 5-yard lines along with the percentage of time they converted the opportunity into a touchdown.
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Advanced NFL Stats
How do J.J. McCarthy's 2025 advanced stats compare to other quarterbacks?
This section compares his advanced stats with players at the same position. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. The longer the bar, the better it is for the player.
Bad Pass %
5.0%Avg Target Depth
11.2 YdsSack Rate
13.0%Avg Receiver YAC
5.2 YdsReceiver Drop %
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2025 NFL Game Log
2025
2024
2025 NFL Game Log
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Snap Distribution / Depth Chart
Snap Counts
Snap %
Vikings 2025 QB Snap Distribution
McCarthy
#% of Team Snaps
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This Week's Opposing Pass Defense
How does the Falcons pass defense compare to other NFL teams this season?
The bars represents the team's percentile rank (based on QB Rating Against). The longer the bar, the better their pass defense is. The team and position group ratings only include players that are currently on the roster and not on injured reserve. The list of players in the table only includes defenders with at least 3 attempts against them.
vs Falcons
Sunday, Sep 14th at 8:20PM
Overall QB Rating Against
90.2
Cornerbacks
105.2
Safeties
39.6
Linebackers
56.3
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2025 J.J. McCarthy Split Stats
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Measurables Review
View College Player Page
How do J.J. McCarthy's measurables compare to other quarterbacks?
This section compares his draft workout metrics with players at the same position. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that metric and it would be considered average.
Height
6' 3"Weight
219 lbsShuttle Time
4.23 secCone Drill
6.82 secHand Length
9.00 inArm Length
31.63 in
2024 Fantasy Outlook
McCarthy was the fifth of six quarterbacks drafted in the first round this spring, and while he may be in the best position of them all for the long haul, his rookie year will be a redshirt season following meniscus surgery in August. The Vikings have standout pass catcher Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson -- all under contract through at least 2026 -- at the disposal of coach Kevin O'Connell, whose offense provided 631 pass attempts last year (4th in the league) and 672 the year prior (3rd). At 6-3, 219, McCarthy gets impressive velocity on his throws but will still need to work on his mechanics once he's finished rehabbing his knee. While noted for his skill throwing over the middle at Michigan, he was less consistent on passes outside the numbers and had some issues when he needed to throw deep balls with touch. He also wasn't asked to do much in Michigan's run-heavy offense, averaging 22.1 pass attempts per game last season for a dominant team. McCarthy is an excellent athlete who ran for 508 yards and eight TDs the past two seasons, and he should provide some rushing stats to boost his fantasy scoring in the NFL. The typical recovery timeline for a meniscus repair would have him ready well before the start of Minnesota's offseason program next spring, at which point he'll be younger than many of the incoming rookie QBs in the 2025 draft class (he turns 22 in January).
More Fantasy News
Won't face Patriots
Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said Thursday that McCarthy will not suit up for Saturday's preseason contest against New England.
ANALYSIS
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Plays one drive Saturday
McCarthy completed four of seven passes for 30 yards and added eight yards on his only carry in Saturday's 20-10 preseason win over the Texans.
ANALYSIS
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Set to play Saturday
McCarthy is slated to start Saturday's preseason opener against the Texans, Steven Louis Goldstein of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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In line to play preseason opener
McCarthy is expected to play in Saturday's preseason game against the Texans, Ben Goessling of The Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
ANALYSIS
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No issues with knee
McCarthy has been participating in spring practices without any issues in his surgically repaired knee, Ben Goessling of The Minnesota Star Tribune reports.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Sitting out second exhibition
McCarthy will not play in Saturday's preseason game against the Patriots after performing well in joint practices this week, Nick Shook of NFL.com reports.
ANALYSIS
Early training camp reports noted the second-year signal-caller was somewhat inconsistent, but McCarthy has unsurprisingly gotten more proficient the more reps he's taken in head coach Kevin O'Connell's offense. O'Connell was especially impressed with how well McCarthy performed against New England, praising the Michigan product's decisiveness and location on some of his throws.
Early training camp reports noted the second-year signal-caller was somewhat inconsistent, but McCarthy has unsurprisingly gotten more proficient the more reps he's taken in head coach Kevin O'Connell's offense. O'Connell was especially impressed with how well McCarthy performed against New England, praising the Michigan product's decisiveness and location on some of his throws.