When Should J.J. McCarthy Return to QB1 Duties?
QB Carson Wentz gets the start for the Vikings’ Week 7 matchup against the reigning Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles in a home bout at U.S. Bank Stadium. This was announced by head coach Kevin O’Connell on Friday after a lot of speculation about whether or not we would be able to see J.J. McCarthy take the field for the first time since the Vikings’ embarrassing loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football in Week 2.
O’Connell announced that Carson Wentz would get the start, and rookie QB and University of Minnesota Golden Gophers legend Max Brosmer would back him up. McCarthy is listed as the emergency QB3 option, so in case there’s an absolute catastrophe, McCarthy will not be seeing any game time for at least this week.
J.J. McCarthy Doesn’t Need to Be Rushed Back
Carson Wentz is Driving the Car Just Fine
This begs the question: if you’re the Vikings’ decision makers, when do you bring J.J. McCarthy back to QB1, or do you even do it at all?
Of course, a lot of it rides on the play of Carson Wentz against his former Eagles. Wentz surely will have a chip on his shoulder for the bout, and it is a common school of thought that players going against their former teams will play a better game than their usual offerings, given the added dose of motivation to show up an organization that technically gave up on them.
Carson Wentz has been fine in his three starts for the Vikings so far, notching a 2-1 record with the only loss coming in their first game of the European back-to-back to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin, Ireland by three points. In those games, Wentz has produced a fine stat line of 759 yards, 5 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and a 69.0% completion percentage.
The Vikings Have a Big Decision to Make
In any other situation, a team would usually ride with the guy who’s been playing serviceably and leading the team to more wins than losses. However, the Vikings sit in a situation where they may have to choose between a solid-producing veteran and the QB they selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, which has always been the long-term plan.
J.J. McCarthy is still the assumed QB1 for the Vikings, and the team is right to be very careful with his high-ankle sprain injury. The kid said himself earlier in the week that his ankle isn’t 100%, and with the Vikings coming up on a short week in which they have to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football after they fight off the Eagles, the likelihood that McCarthy was ever going to play the Eagles in the first place seems unlikely in hindsight.
The Likely Return Timeline for McCarthy
A rematch between McCarthy and his former Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh, now head coach of those Los Angeles Chargers, surely would bring plenty of storylines and would sprinkle a little bit more meaning on that Thursday night Matchup for McCarthy personally.
However, if Wentz plays solid and McCarthy’s ankle still isn’t absolutely ready to go without a doubt, it seems most likely that we won’t see McCarthy until Week 9 on November 2nd, when the Vikings travel to Ford Field for a big-time game with the Lions.
It makes all the sense in the world; his injury has a 4-6 week recovery timeline anyway. With the injury occurring on September 14th, we’re already 4 weeks into that window. By the time the long break between the Chargers game and the Lions game is done, the kid should be completely ready to go. In that game, there would be no excuses. He would be completely healthy, and matching up on the road with the team to beat in not only the NFC North, but the NFC in general.
Following this timeline will go a long way to finding out if that McCarthy we saw in the fourth quarter of the Week 1 Monday Night Football contest against the Chicago Bears was an imposter or not.
