The dog days of summer are hitting and NFL rookies are popping up at MLB ballparks across the country to throw out some ceremonial first pitches. On Tuesday, the pair of Minnesota Vikings first round selections — quarterback J.J. McCarthy and edge rusher Dallas Turner — took the mound before a Minnesota Twins game.
It didn’t go well for either, as Turner apparently airmailed his throw and McCarthy, caught on video, spiked his pitch into the left handed batters box. Not a promising omen for Vikings fans hoping to see McCarthy dotting throws on the money to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Co., but at least there’s no mound on the field at U.S. Bank Stadium.
And Turner hopefully won’t be attempting an NFL pass any time soon.
The silver lining for both is neither McCarthy nor Turner have much of a baseball background. Along with football, Turner was a high-level high school basketball player and McCarthy played preps ice hockey.
Even still, it’s not too much to hope for a first round quarterback — or any athlete — to get it over the plate from 60 feet, 6 inches away.
McCarthy is currently jockeying to overtake Sam Darnold as the starter
When the Minnesota Vikings traded up one spot in the 2024 NFL Draft and selected McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick, it was safe to assume that the former Michigan quarterback would be the quarterback of the future for the Vikings. But maybe not the immediate future.
At OTAs, Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell was recently asked who would currently be the team’s starter under center. Labeling newly signed quarterback Sam Darnold as the top guy at the moment for the Vikings.
“We haven’t had to put out a depth chart or anything like that, but yeah, I would say Sam would be the guy I would look to based upon the spring he’s had and really where he’s at in his career, in his quarterback journey, and what he’s been able to do coming in and really hit the ground running and really kind of take advantage of a competitive situation,” O’Connell said.
Darnold signed a one-year, $10 million deal with Minnesota following a one-year stint as a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Representing the most experienced quarterback in a Vikings quarterback room that O’Connell has been impressed with this offseason.
“But at the same time JJ’s really improved, Nick Mullens has had a great spring, and Jaren [Hall] has also improved. So I’ve I’ve told all four of those guys look, depth charts are great and it’s great to understand where I’m at currently today. But that’ll mean really nothing you know about the future, that’ll mean nothing about a week or two out.”
“And most importantly, we played four them last year including one guy who was not in our building throughout the offseason or training camp and relied on him to come in and win a game and then try to play it out from there.”
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