NFL announces Vikings OTAs, minicamp dates; all eyes on J.J. McCarthy
The NFL announced dates for every team's offseason workout programs last week.
The first day of the Vikings voluntary offseason program begins April 21 in Eagan.
Organized team activities (OTAs) are on May 27-28, May 30, June 2-3, June 5 and June 16-18.
Mandatory minicamp will be June 10-12.
The collective bargaining agreement stipulates teams are limited to 10 practice days for OTAs over four weeks.
Live contact is not allowed, but teams can run full practices.
OTAs typically don't command too much attention from fans — aside from off-the-field matters, like contract disputes — but this year will be different.
It will be the first time second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy gets all of the practice reps with the first-team offense.
The team wants McCarthy to be the starter but still has not anointed him because they want to see how he looks this spring.
McCarthy missed all of last season after he tore his meniscus.
"When we pooled the resources we did to draft J.J., and you go through that long process and all those things, that's the outcome we want and that's the outcome we're headed toward," general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said a few weeks ago at his offseason press conference.
Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell have each said in a perfect world, McCarthy would be their starter, given the draft capital they invested in him and the little salary he commands on his rookie contract. It would be surprising to see that not come to fruition.
However, McCarthy is also the only quarterback in NFL history to be picked in the first round and miss his entire rookie season due to injury.
And until the team cements his position as the starter, questions and intrigue will persist.
The offseason program runs nine weeks.
Rookie minicamp has not yet been scheduled but will happen sometime in early May following the NFL draft, which begins April 24 in Green Bay, Wis.
