Vikings will start Sam Darnold at quarterback in Saturday’s preseason opener

Many Vikings starters, including first-string quarterback Sam Darnold, are expected to play in Saturday’s preseason opener against the Raiders, head coach Kevin O’Connell said Thursday.

Darnold, the 27-year-old veteran, has taken the majority of first-team reps while quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the 21-year-old rookie and first-round pick, has only sparingly seen time with receiver Justin Jefferson and the rest of the starting offense.

But Darnold won’t throw to Jefferson on Saturday either, as O’Connell will hold out the NFL’s highest-paid receiver, safety Harrison Smith and likely a few other established starters.

McCarthy, the 10th overall pick, will get a “significant” amount of playing time after Darnold, O’Connell said. Second-year quarterback Jaren Hall will get mop-up duty. Veteran quarterback Nick Mullens is not expected to play.

“We are planning on playing the majority of our guys,” O’Connell said Thursday at TCO Performance Center in Eagan. “There’s still some guys either dealing with a day-to-day [injury] that we’ll evaluate as we go into it, [or] there may be a couple guys we hold out.”

Darnold, the former 2018 third-overall pick by the Jets, said last week he’d go along with O’Connell’s preseason plan without argument. Darnold is on track to start his first regular-season opener since 2021 with the Panthers. That looks like a surer bet with every strong practice Darnold has while tossing deep touchdowns to Jefferson and receiver Jordan Addison.

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“[Throwing deep] has been something that I’ve worked on the last couple years,” Darnold said last week. “The first few years haven’t been as accurate as I wanted to be. So it’s been a point of emphasis for me in the offseason just to get better at that. ... You can’t be satisfied with having a good throw one play. The next play, it can catch up to you fast in this league.”

Under O’Connell, most Vikings starters typically sit in the preseason.

But this year, coaches need to evaluate a new starting quarterback, currently Darnold, after quarterback Kirk Cousins signed with the Falcons in March.

“Making sure we’re preparing our team to get off to a good start,” O’Connell said. “It’s a great [opportunity] with it being a home game, and only one set of joint practices this year.”

Darnold appears unlikely to have starting running back Aaron Jones against the Raiders. Jones was held out again Thursday for an undisclosed reason, watching from the sideline. Smith, the 13th-year safety, and cornerback Shaq Griffin (hamstring) were also among players not practicing.

McCarthy is expected to play a lot in his first NFL action.

The rookie joked he’s looking forward to facing a “vanilla defense,” alluding to how basic defensive game plans can be in the preseason, after seeing coordinator Brian Flores’ varied attacks for three weeks in camp. The former Michigan national champion also wants to carry over good practice habits into a game.

“Making sure the things we harp on: all the little details, all the little intricacies that go into each and every rep show up on game day,” McCarthy said Wednesday. “When there’s a lot of noise and there’s a crowd, just being able to lock in to the level of my training that I’ve been doing on a consistent basis since I got here. And to be able to do it when the time matters.”

This will be the first NFL game for many rookies, but it will also be linebacker Blake Cashman’s first game back home at U.S. Bank Stadium. Cashman, the Gophers and Eden Prairie product, said he expects to play at least a little bit on Saturday. He has never played at U.S. Bank Stadium in his previous five NFL seasons with the Texans and Jets.

After his 2022 season ended without a postseason, Cashman watched the Vikings’ wild card playoff loss to the Giants from a purple seat among the home crowd.

“Like, this is amazing, the atmosphere,” Cashman said. “Everyone I’ve talked to around the league has said it’s one of their favorite places to play.”

Second-year cornerback NaJee Thompson, a special teams standout last year, won’t play Saturday. He remains on the physically unable to perform list with a nagging left knee injury. But a source said Thursday that Thompson hopes to be ready by the team’s Aug. 24 preseason finale in Philadelphia.