J.J. McCarthy's Job Is To Keep the Vikings' Heart Beating Throughout the Year

Last year, when he wasn’t meditating or rehabbing his knee, J.J. McCarthy attended positional meetings and took notes. He’d sit with the linebackers, corners, and wide receivers, reviewing his own scouting reports on his iPad and comparing his analysis with what the coaches were saying in the positional meetings.

“It’s a lot of color coding,” he said after practice last week, describing what was on his iPad. “Every situation that we could be in, and the game plans, and just separate notes on the personnel.

“I really try to do my best to compartmentalize all that information so it’s simple, quick, and concise for when we need it on gameday.”

McCarthy goes through this process to better understand each player’s role, so he’s better able to lead a team with Super Bowl aspirations in his first season as a starter. It’s also a way to connect with his teammates. He learns their responsibilities and what they see on the field while building chemistry.

“I feel it’s one team, and one heartbeat,” he said. “It’s not just the quarterbacks, the receivers, the O-line. We are in this thing together.”

McCarthy values connectedness. He started meditating while at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. As a senior at the prestigious sports training boarding school, McCarthy experienced depression while socially isolated because of the pandemic restrictions and being 1,200 miles away from his family home in Chicago.

By methodically breathing and exploring the space between his thoughts, McCarthy learns things about himself that his ego might be trying to defend and becomes self-aware. By studying each position’s role, he learns how each player’s action affects the team and how he can better serve the roster.

As he recovered from his meniscus tear last year, he used adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which provides energy to the cells. He sets the ATP current to 7.83 hertz, the Earth’s natural frequency. When he meditates, he listens to sounds tuned to 963 hertz, or “God’s frequency.”

McCarthy’s actions are intentional. He’s preparing for the most demanding position in sports by understanding his role in a larger system. He’s also quieting his mind, which O’Connell and his coaching staff feel is vital for quarterbacks, and connecting to his teammates, the Earth, and a higher power.

“I think there’s value in [meditation],” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said last week at practice. “Quieting some of those thoughts, some of the things that really cause you stress. Things that you’re inventing that are going to happen in the future, or things from the past that are already done and gone.

“Just quieting your mind a bit and being more in the present moment.”

Only with a quiet mind can you hear a heartbeat. It’s a weird, subtle sound that everyone is familiar with but rarely hears. For those of you familiar, think of the start of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Oddly, one of the world’s famous albums starts with

McCarthy has heard that familiar ticking already in camp.

He’s found the common ground among his teammates. Justin Jefferson may be lanky. The players in the trenches weigh nearly 100 lbs. more than he does, and the linebackers fall somewhere in between. Still, there’s a beating heart within all of them that wants to win.

“I feel like I do a really great job trying to connect with every single person on this team: starter, not starter, defensive player, [and] special teams guy,” he said. “That’s your role as a quarterback, and at the end of the day, I just love every single guy. We have such great human beings in [the locker room], and they’re a joy to talk to and get to know.”

McCarthy says he’s found the team’s heartbeat. Still, it may become fainter when half the training camp roster is gone on Tuesday. Will he be able to hear it in the Chicago crucible on Monday Night Football? And will it beat off-rhythm if things look like they’re falling apart, as they did in the middle of last season?

Unlike many first-year quarterbacks, McCarthy doesn’t have to elevate the organization. The Vikings have built their roster to support him. He must find that heartbeat throughout the year, and ensure they always have reason to believe it will keep ticking.