EAGAN, Minn. -- Josh McCown is nearing a milestone of sorts. In three weeks, he will have completed his first full season as a coach above the high school level.
McCown smiles at the mention of the relatively modest achievement. He's standing off to the side in the Minnesota Vikings' indoor practice facility, where he has spent 2024 as the team's quarterbacks coach.
It has been four seasons since he last drew a paycheck as an NFL player, and three since the Houston Texans considered hiring him for their open head-coach position. His first stint as an NFL assistant ended after 12 weeks in 2023, when the Carolina Panthers' quarterbacks coach was fired along with head coach Frank Reich.
And yet there is every reason to begin taking stock of McCown's work in Minnesota and how it might impact his career. At 12-2, the Vikings are one of the NFL's top teams, and McCown's top student -- quarterback Sam Darnold -- is one of the biggest reasons why. Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell receives much of the credit for Darnold's success, but McCown's involvement represents a durable formula for external interest when the NFL's coaching cycle resumes next month.
While saying he did not want to "put limits on anything" during an interview Thursday with ESPN, McCown echoed a phrase Darnold has used repeatedly this season: "My feet are firmly planted where they are." He made clear that his shortened 2023 season with the Panthers has given him more reason to "squeeze every bit" from his experience in Minnesota, however long it lasts.
"I love it here and I love the guys I'm around," McCown said. "And I think I'm just scratching the surface of, for me, really learning how to coach in this system. And so my focus is just getting better at that, and then whatever happens down the road happens. But I just want to stay present with it."
McCown famously changed offensive coordinators in every season of his 18-year playing career, and he's now 2-for-2 in his NFL coaching career as well. As a result, he said he has "a bunch of systems floating around in my head" and relishes the opportunity to lock into a scheme that is flourishing for Minnesota this season.
McCown's coaches during his own playing career sometimes leaned on him for game-planning and playcalling input, especially in 2014 when he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and later during his two-year stint with the Chicago Bears. So while he had an idea of what goes into the role of being an offensive playcaller, McCown said his time in Minnesota with O'Connell, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips and assistant offensive coordinator/assistant quarterbacks coach Grant Udinski has exposed him an entirely different level.
"That's what's been great for me," he said. "It's been very hard at times, if I'm being candid, because these guys think of everything. And so that's been great learning for me. I tell Kevin all the time that it can be intimidating to be around him, just because of how smart he is."
At times that has left Darnold and McCown to absorb the system together as newcomers, much as they did in 2018 when they were teammates with the New York Jets.
"He's been great," Darnold said, "just the way that -- even when I first got here in OTAs -- we've been able to learn the system together. And talk about the system and grow in it at the same time. It's been a great journey so far. He's been a great coach to be able to lean on where situations aren't necessarily going my way, and he's also there when things are getting good, just to remind me of my fundamentals and what I've got to do to continue good quarterback play."
Some of that has played out during the 45-minute on-field practice review McCown instituted at the start of the season. Darnold liked it so much that he requested them every day the team practices. So, for at least three days every week, all four of the Vikings' quarterbacks -- Darnold, Nick Mullens, Brett Rypien and Daniel Jones -- gather after practice to drop back in unison to mimic the mechanics and progressions of each play on the call sheet.
"Sometimes you just need reps doing that," McCown said. "It'll be like, 'Hey, my brain is here and now this [defensive] look happens, and I'm doing this, and where's my brain now? What am I thinking now?' So we want him to get extra reps of that. And the others, they take that time to get a little extra throws in."
Darnold joked that their relationship remains strong, even if they don't socialize as much as they did when they were players. That connection seemed evident this week as Darnold was speaking with reporters.
McCown wandered near Darnold's news conference, saying he was looking for his phone. Coincidentally, Darnold was answering questions about McCown.
"We're talking about you" Darnold said.
"Seven years ago, I would have heckled you," McCown responded. "But now I've got to be professional."