“Your job is to just fight through the down with the possession of football,” Kevin O’Connell told JJ McCarthy during a teaching moment this week, a window into how Minnesota is calibrating urgency with patience for its QB1-in-waiting. He’s competitive, O’Connell added, “a competitive sucker,” and the Vikings are trying to harness that edge without overexposing their second-year passer in August. It’s the kind of coach-quarterback dialogue that hardcore fans lean in for because it foreshadows how the Vikings will actually call games when it counts.

So, what does the ramp-up look like when the franchise’s bet at quarterback is returning from a lost rookie year and still re-learning timing under live bullets? O’Connell confirmed McCarthy will play in the preseason opener against

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