The Minnesota Vikings have done everything, seemingly, possible to prepare J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback next season, including eliminating the threat of competition.

The threat was eliminated with the recent signing of Sam Howell as McCarthy’s backup. Had the Vikings signed, for instance, a veteran such as Kirk Cousins, it could have made an uncomfortable situation for McCarthy.

Howell, 24, has much to prove to warrant consideration as starter.

>> If McCarthy were to get injured, a trade for a veteran — maybe even Cousins for the right financial deal — could be a possibility.

>> At the very least, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, whose QB expertise helped Sam Darnold reap a $100 million contract with the Seahawks, is getting another chance to prove how good he really is at developing QBs.

>> McCarthy, 22, regardless of repeating the cliche last week that “pressure is a privilege,” will be under intense pressure to succeed.

“Personally, I think the more pressure the better — that’s something I thrive off of,” he said. “That’s something you sign up for when you play in the National Football League, especially at the quarterback position.

“I feel like pressure — all it does is just bring out what’s inside of you, and I feel pretty good about what’s inside of me.”

McCarthy practices meditation daily.

“Extremely (important),” he said. “It’s something that just keeps me neutral, somewhere I can come from a response, not react-type of state. It’s always there for me whenever I need it, times like this, times on the field. When things aren’t going great at home, you can use it everywhere.”

>> McCarthy has 10-1 odds to be NFL comeback player of the year next season, per SportsBetting.ag. Twin Byron Buxton — batting .254 with six home runs — is 18-1 odds to be American League comeback player of the year, per BetOnline.ag.

>> NBA analyst Charles Barkley after the Timberwolves in 2022 traded four first-round draft picks and five players to Utah for Rudy Gobert: “Worst trade in NBA history. That was so stupid that trade.”

Last Wednesday in Los Angeles, Gobert scored 27 points with 24 rebounds to propel the Timberwolves into the second round of the NBA playoffs.

>> The Wild’s per game attendance average (18,430) for the regular season tied for first in the NHL with Las Vegas in percent of arena capacity (102.7%).

>> Zach Parise, 40, was paid $7.37 million by the Wild this season while coaching squirt hockey in Edina.

>> Twins Authentics, which sells authenticated game-used memorabilia at Target Field, had the baseball that fractured promising rookie Luke Keaschall’s right arm the other day against the Angels for sale for $150. It’s the same ball on which Byron Buxton first struck out.

>> Word within the NFL is that the Vikings did exceptionally well in signing undrafted free agents and are paying more than in past years.

Among signees, ex-Gophers QB Max Brosmer received a guaranteed $246,000 contract plus a $10,000 signing bonus, regardless of whether he makes the 53-player active roster. The NFL first-year minimum salary next season is $840,000.

Among 19 other undrafted free agents signed by the Vikings, linebacker Chaz Chambliss from Georgia was guaranteed $220,000; tight end Ben Yurosek from Georgia was guaranteed $254,000; offensive lineman Joe Huber from Wisconsin gets a guaranteed $210,000 plus a $10,000 signing bonus; running back Tre Stewart from Jacksonville State gets a $10,000 signing bonus and $160,000 guaranteed; wide receiver Dontae Fleming from Tulane gets $135,000 guaranteed and a $10,000 signing bonus; safety Mishael Powell from Miami has a $55,000 guaranteed deal and a $5,000 signing bonus, and defensive end Tyler Batty from BYU gets a $25,000 signing bonus and $234,000 guaranteed.

Among current Vikings, Ivan Pace Jr., Eric Wilson, Ryan Wright, Dwight McGlothern and Taki Taimani were undrafted free agents.

>> Former Twins Tony Oliva, 86, and Kent Hrbek, 64, said Friday they’re doing OK after each suffered minor strokes a month ago. Hrbek is also recovering from a second knee replacement.

>> Jake Guentzel, 30, the former Hill-Murray star with Tampa Bay and son of ex-Gopher Mike Guentzel, who scouts the NHL for Utah, has 41 career goals in 74 NHL playoffs games. That’s why he’s the fifth-highest paid ($13.3 million) player in the NHL this season.

>> Simley grad Michael Busch hit his first career grand slam for the Cubs in their 10-2 victory over the Brewers on Friday. Busch, 27, playing for $800,000, is hitting .278 with six homers and 22 RBIs.

>> Nearly 100 baseball players coached by Dennis Denning at Cretin-Derham Hall turned out for a wonderful tribute Friday afternoon at the St. Paul school, which bedecked left field with a large No. 18, the jersey he wore during an iconic career.

>> The high-end Tepetonka golf club, with a membership initiation fee of $100,000, is scheduled to open a year from now near Willmar. Fourteen holes are completed.

>> That was 6-foot-10 Notre Dame-bound Tommy Ahneman of Cretin-Derham Hall and parents dining at J.R. Mac’s in St. Paul last week. Ahneman leaves for early classes and basketball workouts June 6 in South Bend, Ind. The Irish, he said, were by far his first choice during recruitment.

>> That was a dozen local hockey luminaries, including Gary Gambucci, Murray Williamson, Mike “Lefty” Curran, Jerry Melnychuk, Dave Metzen, Larry Johnson and Art Miller, lunching at Willy McCoys in Bloomington the other day.

Curran, 81, recalled the 1974 season when he was goalie for the World Hockey Association Minnesota Fighting Saints in St. Paul.

“If we had played the Broad Street Bullies (NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers) then, I’d say they might have beaten us about 7-2,” Curran said. “But when the gloves came off and the fighting started, you never would have heard of the Broad Street Bullies. We would have beat the crap out of them.”

Best fighter on that Saints team? Jack Carlson, Curran said.

>> Retiring Wild future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, 40, has played for Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Chicago and Minnesota during a 21-year NHL career, and has chosen to live in Edina with his family in retirement. A six-year-old son, James, is a goalie. “He likes to dive around,” Fleury told the Pioneer Press.

>> Former Gopher Max Meyer, 26, of Woodbury, after Tommy John surgery nearly two years ago, leads the Miami Marlins in strikeouts (47 in 34 innings, tied for sixth in the National League) and ERA (3.18).

>> Red Wing’s Tim Droogsma, 68, who was press secretary for Sen. Rudy Boschwitz and Gov. Arne Carlson, has been an usher at club level at Xcel Energy Center since the Wild’s first game in October of 2000 and recently received a team-signed jersey for being the first usher to work 1,000 games at the St. Paul arena.

>> Steve “Stone” Schneider, the former Cretin-Derham Hall star, will be the basketball representative for the Mancini’s St. Paul Sports Hall of Fame banquet May 12 at the Char House.

>> St. Thomas Academy president Brian Ragatz last weekend received two distinguished leadership awards; one from alma mater St. John’s University, the other for contributions to private education.

>> Chansey Willis Jr., a 6-2 freshman basketball guard leaving Western Michigan for the Gophers, is ranked the 13th-best player in the NCAA transfer portal, per Hoops HQ.

>> The recent Masters golf tournament was the 19th worked by former Gophers-Vikings linebacker Mark Dusbabek, who is chief PGA Tour rules analyst for CBS-TV.

>> Wilmis Castro, younger brother of Twins utility star Willi Castro, is a sophomore outfielder at St. Cloud State, where he’s hitting .325 with 13 doubles and nine home runs.