Vikings Provide Devastating Injury Update for J.J. McCarthy
The Minnesota Vikings managed to win the first preseason game since 2019 and the first since Kevin O’Connell took over the head coaching job. Much more important, however, is that the rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy played extremely well in his first exhibition. Concerns about his knee injury have surfaced, though.
Vikings Update J.J. McCarthy’s Injury Status
The rookie reported knee soreness on Monday, and the team held him out of the annual night practice. That, of course, was a bummer for the fans in attendance, but it is a concern for his future outlook.
On Tuesday, head coach Kevin O’Connell stepped in front of the media (virtually) to update the roster questions ahead of the group traveling to Cleveland for the joint practices, and he had bad news about his 21-year-old passer who is set to undergo knee surgery after injuring his meniscus.
The timeline after meniscus surgery varies as there are two different procedures: a trim and a repair.
In 2021, tight end Irv Smith Jr. missed the entire season after undergoing a meniscus repair on September 1. The medical staff will make the determination during the surgery once they figure out the damage to the meniscus.
Talking to the media, Kevin O’Connell said on Monday: “J.J. McCarthy came in today with a little bit of right knee soreness. [He] obviously finished the game, threw a touchdown on his last pass, but out of precaution, we’re going to continue an evaluation on him and get some more testing done. [He is a] very important player obviously, so we want to make sure we’re smart about [it]; before he participates, making sure we have a good understanding of where he’s at.”
The head coach also mentioned that he could’ve continued playing on Saturday as his knee was fine, but the coaching staff pulled him because he had reached a good number of reps. He also called it a “routine soreness, that a lot of guys after their first preseason game come in with.”
To the question if there’s any reason to believe it’s anything other than routine, he said: “At this point, I really don’t.”
It turns out he was wrong. Sam Darnold will be the starter going forward, and it certainly will throw off McCarthy’s development. From potentially starting in Week 1 after his promising debut to perhaps not seeing the field in his rookie season within a couple of days is a devastating twist.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt