JJ McCarthy was taken with the 11th overall selection by the Minnesota Vikings in April. The former Michigan Wolverine was chosen to be the next great quarterback for the Vikings, replacing Kirk Cousins who left in free agency. This past Saturday, fans finally got to see McCarthy on an NFL field as he made his preseason debut.
He looked like the real deal, and not only that but he looked confident, a key trait for a rookie play caller. He finished the game with a completion percentage of 65.7%, passing for 188 yards and two touchdowns. He also showed off his mobility taking off twice on the ground for a total of 18 yards.
Fast forward to early Tuesday morning when ESPN’s Adam Schefter initially reported McCarthy was experiencing “right knee soreness” and would not be participating in the team’s practice. Later on in the day, Schefter took to X yet again to announce that the injury was to his right meniscus. after further evaluation, the injury would require surgery.
According to Schefter’s latest post, “surgery on J.J. McCarthy’s torn meniscus revealed that a [full] repair was necessary and the Vikings rookie quarterback now will miss the 2024 season.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell formally updated the media on his status yesterday afternoon. He went on to talk about his confidence in JJ to bounce back in 2025. “As crushed as I am for our team…I’m the most crushed for JJ, but as our fans either have already come to find out or will in the future, this guy is so motivated and so dialed in. This is gonna be a small bump in the road other, quarterbacks in our league have gone through similar things early on in their journey and came back stronger and better than ever. And that is not only my expectation, I know that is gonna happen for JJ.”
This now opens the door for backup QB Sam Darnold to get yet another shot to be a starter in the NFL. If all the rest goes according to plan he will be the starter for Minnesota in week one against the New York Giants.
