Watch: J.J. McCarthy shows he can do much more than 'handoff' in Vikings debut

It's only a matter of time before J.J. McCarthy takes over as the Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback and the Michigan football legend took a positive first step on Saturday.

The Vikings played the first of three preseason games at home against the Las Vegas Raiders and McCarthy delighted fans when he got his opportunity.

Drafted 10th overall after leading Michigan football to the national championship last season, McCarthy got his NFL debut off to a sluggish start with an interception after coming on late in the first quarter.

But in the third, McCarthy threw a 43-yard touchdown pass. A few minutes later, he followed it up with a 33-yard touchdown pass.

When the day was done for McCarthy, he completed 11-of-17 passes for passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran twice 18 yards. Sam Darnold, the former USC quarterback, in his first season with the Vikings, completed 4-of-8 passes for 59 yards.

J.J. McCarthy could push to start for Vikings

Darnold is expected to be the starter at the start of the season. McCarty could eventually challenge for the job this season and is undoubtedly the quarterback of the future.

As a Detroit Lions fan, I'd rather the Vikings keep J.J. McCarthy on the bench as long as possible. We have seen the former Michigan football quarterback throwing darts throughout training camp and despite rival fans saying McCarthy was a "handoff specialist" he threw two 33-yard plus touchdown passes in his first NFL game and he wasn't even throwing to Justin Jeffrerson.

J.J. McCarthy proved a lot of doubters wrong during his time with Michigan football and I have a feeling he's going to do the same thing in the NFL, maybe as early as this season.