As the Vikings researched the quarterback class in the 2024 NFL Draft, there was a particular interaction that stuck out to general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. He remembers talking to former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy early in the process and being taken aback by how forthcoming he was.

“He said, ‘Is there a reason you wouldn’t draft me?’ ” Adofo-Mensah recalled. “I said, ‘Honestly, from a talent standpoint, no.’ ”

The only thing that gave Adofo-Mensah any sort of pause was the fact that McCarthy was more of an unknown compared to his peers. He wasn’t asked to do nearly as much as North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye. He didn’t have nearly as many reps as LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. And he didn’t showcase his arm talent nearly as much as Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. did.

As he reflected on that question Friday, McCarthy smiled, noting that he only asked that question because he felt like he had developed a strong rapport with Adofo-Mensah.

“I was genuinely curious,” McCarthy said while rocking a designer suit for his formal introduction at TCO Performance Center. “I’m always trying to get better, and I want to hear from great minds and different perspectives on how to do that.”

That curiosity gives some insight into why Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell believe McCarthy is the right person to lead the Vikings into the future. Not only does his attention to detail fit the mold of what O’Connell is looking for in a quarterback, McCarthy already carries himself like a face of the franchise on and off the field.

Last fall, McCarthy led undefeated Michigan to its first NCAA national title since 1997.

“There is a fire inside him to be the best version of himself,” O’Connell said. “He’s been incredibly competitive each and every day. They talk a lot about that culture at Michigan, and they’ve got a lot of players coming out, and a lot of guys that are going to be selected over these next couple of days. The main thing we hear is how he was a driving force behind a lot of that.”

It was a similar assessment from Adofo-Mensah after he spent some time in Ann Arbor during the pre-draft process.

“There’s not a person that’s not a big fan of JJ McCarthy,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We’re really happy with him coming here. He’s excited. He’s a competitive kid and he’s looking to prove everybody right, wrong or indifferent.”

That confidence will go a long way as McCarthy acclimates to the next level. Never mind that he will more than likely start his career behind journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold. He eventually will be asked to step into the spotlight, and he vowed Friday to be ready when that times comes.

“Just focused on being the best version of myself every single day,” McCarthy said. “I’ve been doing that leading up to this point, and it got me here.”

It certainly helps that McCarthy will have O’Connell in his corner. They got to know one another throughout the draft process. The Vikings’ visit to Michigan’s campus featured some extensive time in the classroom before they got onto the field.

“(When) you’ve watched a lot of tape of a lot of players over the years, there’s still some questions,” O’Connell said. “Ultimately, being able to see him kind of take information directly from me in an install setting, and see him take it out to the field was really, really encouraging.”

Just as important is McCarthy’s innate ability to connect with his teammates.

“Something I’ve learned about him is that his emotional intelligence is a superpower,” Adofo-Mensah said. “He uses his superpower to create really lasting bonds.”

That superpower should serve McCarthy well whenever he becomes the starter.

“Just being able to connect with my teammates on and off the field is something that I hold with the utmost importance,” McCarthy said. “It starts with developing those relationships and being able to connect with each person individually, because everybody has a different style of leadership.”

Though the rest is still unwritten for McCarthy, it’s not hard to see why the Vikings gravitated toward him in the first place.

“This is the perfect fit for me,” McCarthy said. “Obviously, it’s a huge honor, and I hope to prove them right.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators have closed Republic First Bank, a regional lender operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday it had seized the Philadelphia-based bank, which did business as Republic Bank and had roughly $6 billion in assets and $4 billion in deposits as of Jan. 31.

Fulton Bank, which is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, agreed to assume substantially all of the failed bank’s deposits and buy essentially all of its assets, the agency said.

Republic Bank’s 32 branches will reopen as branches of Fulton Bank as early as Saturday. Republic First Bank depositors can access their funds via checks or ATMs as early as Friday night, the FDIC said.

The bank’s failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $667 million.

The lender is the first FDIC-insured institution to fail in the U.S. this year. The last bank failure — Citizens Bank, based in Sac City, Iowa — was in November.

In a strong economy an average of only four or five banks close each year.

Rising interest rates and falling commercial real estate values, especially for office buildings grappling with surging vacancy rates following the pandemic, have heightened the financial risks for many regional and community banks. Outstanding loans backed by properties that have lost value make them a challenge to refinance.

Last month, an investor group including Steven Mnuchin, who served as U.S. Treasury secretary during the Trump administration, agreed to pump more than $1 billion to rescue New York Community Bancorp, which has been hammered by weakness in commercial real estate and growing pains resulting from its buyout of a distressed bank.

NEW YORK — An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.

Delta said that after takeoff the pilots got an alert about the emergency slide on the plane’s right side and heard an unusual sound coming from that area of the Boeing 767 jet, which is listed as having been manufactured in 1990.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew reported a vibration.

Pilots declared an emergency so the flight could be be routed quickly back to the airport, and the plane landed and taxied to a gate under its own power, according to the airline.

There were 176 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants on board the flight, which was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles. Delta said it put passengers on another plane to California.

Delta said the plane was removed from service for evaluation and it was cooperating with investigators and supporting efforts to find the slide.

“As nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people, Delta flight crews enacted their extensive training and followed procedures to return to JFK,” the airline said in a statement.

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PHOENIX — Minnesota gave Denver one of the Nuggets’ stiffest tests in last year’s postseason.

The first-round series went just five games, but the Wolves led in the fourth quarter of Game 2, were within a possession of Denver in the final frame of Game 3 and had a chance to push Game 5 to overtime, only to have Anthony Edwards’ potential tying shot at the horn bounce off the iron.

What was most impressive about all of that is the Timberwolves did it without two important, young rotational pieces.

Jaden McDaniels, the team’s top perimeter defender, missed the postseason after breaking his hand in Game 82 by punching a concrete wall. Naz Reid broke his wrist in the 77th game of the regular season, right as Minnesota felt it was finding its rhythm as a team.

All they could do was sit and watch as Minnesota felt short against the eventual champion Nuggets.

“I don’t like missing out on it,” McDaniels said.

The duo is making up for lost time thus far in these playoffs.

Reid was one of the stars of Game 1, scoring 12 points and burying a couple key triples. McDaniels was the man for Minnesota in Game 2, scoring 25 points to go with eight rebounds while locking down Phoenix’s perimeter scoring weapons.

“He’s a person who can live up to these moments, offensively and defensively,” Reid said.

That’s something McDaniels showed in his first playoff series against Memphis in 2022. In the Game 6 loss that eliminated Minnesota, McDaniels scored 24 points on 8-for-9 shooting. Meanwhile, Reid was essentially a non-factor against Memphis. He played in the first five games of the series but logged fewer than 14 minutes in four of them.

So McDaniels was essentially robbed — by his own actions — of the chance to follow up on his playoff successes, while Reid wasn’t allowed to get his first true taste of the postseason.

Reid healed up shortly after Minnesota was eliminated, which only made last offseason all the longer.

“It was definitely tough. Obviously, a long season of ups and downs, but I think it built us for the moment that we’re in now and moments to come,” Reid said. “I think it’s something that we missed, the team missed — just our presence.”

Reid brings a certain joy and fearlessness, while McDaniels supplies an edge Minnesota otherwise lacks at times that feels like a requirement for playoff success.

“I think the team missed that last year, and presents that this year,” Reid said. “Especially (McDaniels). He had a big task of guarding all three of those (Phoenix) guys. Being able to do that on the offensive end (in Game 2), it’s amazing.”

McDaniels noted he was “antsy” to play in the first couple games this postseason.

“Just being in this environment and being in the playoffs,” he said, “it feels like a dream come true for me.”

That’s shown itself via McDaniels’ play early in this series.

“His activity’s been another level so far in two games. I think a lot of it just starts from being a big presence on the glass, just getting there, playing with a lot of force, finishing strong around the basket, being confident in his shot,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “The job he’s doing on the other end of the floor, fighting through every single screen, getting hit a bunch, I thought he had a special performance (in Game 2). Really special.”

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