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 10^th 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.

Next, McCarthy courageously owned his space in the face of a free blitzer and delivered a dot to Trishton Jackson running an over route, outside the numbers to the left of the quarterback.

Lastly, McCarthy showed off his touch to fit a ball between three defenders in zone coverage against Jackson. Combined, the throws reinforced McCarthy's potential to K.O.

"It was all examples of things he had done well from the beginning." O'Connell said to Breer. "The play pass, but now he was doing it with a free runner basically right in his face, making a big-time throw, taking a hit. The dropback game, showing the ability to set his feet and eyes to where we want for No. 1, No. 2, and then to reset, act in rhythm, and be accurate with the football in between the numbers. And then, the last one was the ability to layer the football in zone coverage, trying to high/low defenders."

Afterwards, it wasn't crazy to think McCarthy would push Sam Darnold for the starting gig. And then the rookie's season was upended by a torn meniscus that required surgery and stalled his physical progress.

Breer extended a succinct reminder about an unsaid reality with a week until the official start of Minnesota's offseason program: It's McCarthy's team now. It's McCarthy's show now. So, let's go!

"We won't know until we get out on the grass with him," O'Connell said. "But my expectation is he's going to have a great spring and we're going to feel really good about him going into training camp.

"I'm excited to see him get that opportunity to pick up where he left off and be accelerated, just because of the mental growth that he's been able to have within our offense, and the verbiage and how we talk about plays," O'Connell added. "It's just a matter of continuing to progress, knowing we feel good about the football team we've put together. We've got the goal of surrounding the quarterback with the best possible team we can, both offensively and defensively. We feel really good about what that looks like."

Read Breer's complete article here.

First-round surprises

There's four positions getting worn out in Vikings mock drafts circulating the web: offensive line, defensive line, cornerback and safety. Adding to any of those rooms with the 24^th pick could be warranted.

But that's not to say it's a cinch it'll happen.

The NFL Draft, after all, is unpredictable, and Plans B, C, D and E, and so forth often become as important as the ideal course of action once the event gets underway and teams react to their board taking shape.

As such, it's worthwhile to consider all possibilities in the leadup to April 24 – even if they feel unlikely.

Pro Football Focus analyst Dalton Wasserman on Tuesday strayed from the popular consensus to make "surprise" first-round selections for every NFL club. We'll bet you're curious about Minnesota's choice.

At No. 24, Wasserman advocated for the Vikings to draft UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger, reasoning that his athleticism and versatility would likely appeal to mad-genius Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores.

Additionally, Wasserman noted that linebackers Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkel are playing on contracts that will expire within the next two years. So, theoretically, a smaller role could be a launchpad for Schwesinger – something he's acutely familiar with, having graduated from walk-on to special teams ace to one-year starter and First-Team All-American with the Bruins. In Schwesinger's final college season, he paired an FBS-best 90 solo tackles with four sacks, two interceptions and a 90.0 PFF pass-rush grade.

Schwesinger, by the way, is rated second in Dane Brugler's off-ball linebacker rankings, behind Alabama's Jihaad Campbell. In his draft guide, "The Beast," Brugler tagged Schwesinger as the 38^th-best prospect:

A player in perpetual chase mode, Schwesinger is lightning quick in his key-and-react processing and flies to the football with an innate feel for beating blockers to the spot and navigating box traffic to stay clean. I want to see more shock and leverage in his hands when he does take on contact, but he has a high batting average as a tackler (just 10 career starts but had double-digit tackles in nine of them). Overall, Schwesinger is an easy player to appreciate, because he is a tractor beam to the ball, a consistent finisher as a tackler and always plays at full speed to close on plays in a blink. He has the instincts, demeanor and cover talent to be a four-down NFL starter early in his NFL career.

Here are a few stretches for other teams' outcomes in Wasserman's article: Tennessee and Cleveland roll with quarterbacks back-to-back at the top of the draft, except neither player is rumored No. 1 target Cam Ward; the Titans take Shedeur Sanders and the Browns tab Jaxson Dart.

Moving along, the Jets and Panthers double-dip in the safety pool, choosing Malaki Starks and Nick Emmanwori at Nos. 7 and 8. Both players have repeatedly popped up in recent Vikings mock drafts.

For your entertainment, you can check out Wasserman's full story of first-round surprises here.

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