J.J. McCarthy's Full Introductory Press Conference After Being Drafted in the First Round

looking right here quick [Music] right here here we go [Music] question uh good afternoon uh thank you for coming out here obviously we're so excited to welcome JJ and Dallas here uh today new members of the family um as as we've always tried to add here just really talented players um Positive Growth mindset oriented uh players that are able to be great in the community uh players that are able to uphold the tradition of this great organization so we're excited to have them um they fit everything we've ever asked for I'm sure they've had a few minutes to talk about the cfp and and how that game went um but uh we're glad to have them from you know the the championship pedigree that they come from The Talented players and you know we're through the moon we were able to get both of them yesterday so with that I'll welcome JJ um just want to say you know it's an absolute blessing to be part of this great organization you know so much thanks to the will family coach oconnell quacy for you know having faith in me to you know be a part of this organization and help win games here and I you know just can't wait to get to know everyone in the building get to know all my teammates and get in the Playbook and get this thing rolling any questions JJ you talked about on the call just about wanting to be with the Vikings this is the place you want to be what what was it that was most attractive to you about wanting to be a viking um first obviously just the organization's outstanding and then you add the players and the pieces that are around it and the coaches and just everything about you know being in the midwest is something that I always gravitate towards and you know it was just the perfect fit for me and you know I talked with a lot of the quarterbacks throughout this process and it was the perfect fit for them too so you know just extremely blessed to be here obviously it's a you know huge honor and I hope to just you know prove them right how you kind of uh go about the competitive part of this that you're just going to start getting into now in terms of you know when you get on the field or obviously sign Sam Darnell here what's your sort of mindset as you enter into that into that period of your career uh my mindset is just take one day at a time you know really focus on just getting to know everyone's names getting to know the Playbook inside and out and you know focus on being the best version of myself every single day and you know I've been doing that LE up to this point and it got me here and I'm just going to continue to you know strive to do that every single day JJ what was that moment like when you heard your name call you got the call from quacy and Kevin I'm sure you had envisioned that was it better than what you had expected it was definitely better than what I expected um I woke up that morning and I felt like my stomach was in my throat it was just one of those big days you know for all of us that are going through this process that you know it's once in a lifetime you try to soak it all in but you know when that phone call came around it was was you know something different a feeling that I can't describe and it was just you know overwhelming emotions of joy you know Bliss everything about the opportunity that's in front of me you know just extremely grateful from you know this organization all the way down to you know all the way up to God and putting me in this position so you know just absolutely thrilled when I got that call and now it's just let's get to work any interesting texts from some of your teammates that are already on the team and welcoming you um yeah I got a lot of texts you know just Josh matelis I'd say this uh foreign Michigan man he told me you know hey this is Josh matelis number 44 it's like come on man I know I know your number I know who you are um but uh yeah I'd say that's the most interesting one so far yeah what was The Scouting Report of Dallas uh for the game against um game wrecker game wrecker uh somebody that could affect you know the game at all times you know somebody that we're going to have to make sure our mic point is directed towards his side you know Chris brazwell another great player but you know we knew 15 was somebody we were going to have to worry about and you know it's going to be amazing not being able to you know get hit by him now you know in practice might get a little dicey I don't know how it is as a rookie but um you know I'm just super blessed to have him on the team not just because of the great player he is but you know the great person you know I got to spend some time with his family on the plane and just you know made it the right rots and really just appreciative that coach oconnell quacy the will family added him to the team because he's a great addition welcome to Minnesota sorry about my audio issues good wanted to ask you about obviously you've done a lot of things like with kids in the community um you establish your foundation I know just how much do you know about the Vikings kind of off field culture um and what kind of an impact is that Mak or how much does that matter to you uh what I know so far you know just a little booklet I was given uh that they're very involved in the community especially with the Next Generation that's something that you know makes this organization so great and something that I really appreciate so just being able to learn from the older guys and how they went throughout that process with the nonprofits and the foundations and stuff like that is going to be invaluable and I can't wait to get rolling with it because all I hear about is how great the people are in Minnesota and I can't wait to you know meet them individually and make those connections JJ quy said yesterday that your superpower is your emotional intelligence what would you say your superpower um you know qu's a smart man I I I go with that I go with that just because you know I understand whenever you're part of a team whenever you're trying to build something you have to all do it for each other you know it's not about me it's about we and being able to connect with my teammates on and off the field is something that I hold to most importance and realize that you know in order to go to battle with somebody you got to trust that they got your six at all times so it starts with developing those relationships and being able to connect with each PE each person individually because everyone has a different style of leadership and a different style of you know communication and just being able to figure that out you know right away is going to be another thing that I'm really focusing on stepping in here and yeah I'd say it's that EQ for sure JJ have you talked to anybody in the quarterback room yet I'm excited are you work with them uh I haven't talked to anybody yet but I've only heard great things about the quarterback room obviously from the top down coach maau he's just an amazing coach amazing human being Sam uh jiren Nick just can't wait to be a part of it because all I hear is that they're just great dudes that love ball want to compete every single day and I want to be a part of that so you know it's going to be a a lot of fun meeting times a lot of fun practices and you know I can't wait to spend a lot of time with them JJ what do you think about the potential of playing with Justin Jefferson um surreal honestly Justin Jefferson Jordan Addison you know Aaron Jones the big boys Christian darisaw uh Brian O'Neal I just met him uh earlier you know Garrett Bradberry all great pieces you know there's so many more that I could sit up here and just list all of them but you know a lot of great pieces that make this organization what it is and you know Justin is just a key part of that and you know he already let me know I'll go by Jets so we don't get any confusion there um but uh yeah it'll be it'll be great to get that connection going with all the guys and he's definitely a key piece to that JJ a lot of the pre-draft uh comments about you said that you're a winner what does that mean to you when you hear that uh it means everything because you know the way I view the game of football is you know winning is the ultimate thing you strive for and uh you know I'm a Believer every place I've been it's the ability to attract winning that's a byproduct of what you do on a day-to-day basis and you know how you water your roots to get those apples off that tree and just being able to continue and evolve to you know get to the success that we want to get to as an organization it's going to be a fun ride and I just can't wait to do it with a great group of people and you know great you know top down organization JJ when when you were at Michigan um were you ever aware that you're in the type of offense that might be harder for NFL teams to to project that fit um I guess from the standpoint of just you know volume of reps I could see that uh especially being you know three and done but you know this is a pro this was a pro style offense that I came from that Coach Harbaugh ran in San Fran and had success with so just being able to do the thing that you know they expect me to do coming in here and have those reps uh has been huge and crucial and you know it was a process of a lot of you know questionable like hey why aren't we throwing it here but that's just because you know confident in my abilities and you know want to want to sling it but um you know just at the end of the day do whatever the coaches asks of me and uh you know go from there Justin did Justin reach out to you did you reach out to him or how did you guys had that little uh he reached out to me he sent me a great text and you know I I'll add to that you know he told me confidence is key in this league and just being able to hear that from him and just be able to get introduced to all the wise words that he's going to be giving me over the years I'm just extremely excited and can't wait to get going what AG did hit you that you could play at the highest level um I would say it didn't really hit me until I got here you know I've always just been striving to be a better version of myself every single day and wherever that takes me it takes me me um you know fifth grade is really when I started editing my life to get to this point today you know stop at the BS in school and really focus on my grades focus on training focus on all the right things and you know it got me to this point so I'm just going to continue to go down that path J you talked a little bit about how this was such a good fit for you in terms of development how do you as now that you're here go about kind of leveraging whether it's Josh maau Kevin oconnell veterans in the building how do you leverage those resources to develop as quarterback well they they have to know that you care and that you want to get better so just being in the building you know first one here last one to leave um just getting around them and exhausting those relationships and making sure that you know I almost bug them too much about wanting to get better and wanting to learn from them because you know that's a lot of the regrets that you know former players have told me is that they wish they spent more time with their coaches and use those resources to their utmost advantage and I plan on doing that JJ quy talked about a call that you guys had um during the whole process where you had asked him like is there a reason that you wouldn't draft me um just curious like kind of your recollection of that conversation and and how it went getting to know him and you talked about confidence just your comfort level and asking what maybe kind of a bold or direct question like that um you know that's something like that first off that conversation was on the spring game you know right when it started and I wanted to be no place but talking with him and you know he's such a great guy such a great human being and being able to answer the questions he would ask you know his Executives that's what he introduced it as was you know an honor to be able to be in that position and you know we just hit it off like he was asking like what's a song that embodies who you are and all that good stuff but uh the reason I asked that question is because I was genuinely curious because I'm always trying to get better and I want to hear from great minds and different perspectives on how to do that and uh you know quac I de veloped a great relationship and I felt comfortable you know asking him that question JJ with your uh background on the ice as well as in football is it fun coming to the state of hockey and and what point did you decide to to concentrate on football instead of uh instead of hockey oh it's amazing coming to the state of hockey I I've heard so many great things got my butt kicked by a lot of Minnesota teams so um you know I can't wait to get out there on the pond in the winter do all that fun stuff go to Wild game um and you know it stopped my freshman year of high school just because it was was getting too much I was first year AAA hockey at the time so I was you know practicing Monday through Thursday with football and then right after that I would drive an hour to skoi Illinois and have hockey practice twice a week so it got a lot and you know just with the travel and just you know overdoing you know my or over straining my schedule and had to make a choice and you know I just listened to my heart listened to my gut and felt like I made the right decision you never got called over to OST when they had hockey injuries last winter no I did not I wasn't that good I wasn't that good but I enjoyed it for sure all right thanks JJ bring Dallas thank you guys

Channel: Minnesota Vikings

Views: 118,432

Keywords: NFL, Vikings, Minnesota, MN, Football

Id: SKi2ck51EDE

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024