Vikings Rookie Minicamp: J.J. McCarthy immediately experiences his 'Welcome to the NFL' moment

The mistakes are going to happen and now is the time to make them

The first-year QB is going to make plenty more mistakes made like Friday's - the silver lining is the fact that now, during the offseason, is the best time to make them. 

All the Vikings want to see, right now and in the coming weeks, is progress when it comes to learning the system and understanding the point of each play call. They want to see him bonding with his teammates and developing his leadership skills. The real stuff can hit the fan in late July and mid-August, as training camp kicks into high gear. 

"I'm looking at this where this weekend is really about preparing him to then step in with the full group next week and then a week from there, we start our first OTA with the whole group," Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell told reporters. "He's doing a great job of handling everything and [I'm] just enjoying seeing the process: rep-to-rep improvement, taking coaching points from [quarterbacks coach] Josh [McCown] or [offensive coordinator] Wes [Phillips] or myself, [and] just continuing to build...

"... [It's a] total learning environment. I know some folks may be keeping track of completions and interceptions and things like that. It's too early for that conversation, I can tell you that much. It's all teachable and that's what makes this time of year so valuable. Not only for JJ, but Dallas [Turner] on the other side."

And honestly, it won't be a surprise if McCarthy uses this as fuel for his seemingly ever-burning fire. No matter how innocuous of a mistake it may be.