The conversations around controversial Minnesota Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy now include injury-based conspiracy theories, as the offseason-long drama under center in Minneapolis continues into September.
McCarthy sat out the team’s preseason finale after suffering an ankle injury in the outing prior, and did so at his own discretion and against team wishes. A report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter in the days that followed indicated that McCarthy might miss several weeks because of an injury that did not appear outwardly to impact him at all shortly after he sustained it, based on firsthand media accounts.
Meanwhile, Minnesota waived second-year signal-caller Max Brosmer on Monday after carrying four QBs through its inital 53-man roster cutdown process, which piqued curiosity from insiders around the NFL who began speculating as to what that decision might mean for McCarthy’s future.
The most relevant questions now include where McCarthy might begin on the Vikings’ depth chart, with most who have any insider knowledge of the team answering QB3, and whether he will remain in Minnesota long enough to ever take another regular season snap there again.
“I’m not buying [the injury],” Darren Wolfson of KSTP said late last week. “It didn’t add up to me.”
“I don’t wanna be the conspiracy person,” Matthew Coller of Purple Insider added on Tuesday, September 1. “It seems like they just don’t wanna name him the QB3, so it would be more convenient to say that he’s hurt.”
Vikings Charged With Slow Playing JJ McCarthy’s Ankle Injury Last Season
Regardless of the legitimacy of McCarthy’s injury, his decision to sit out the final preseason game of the year and the subsequent report from Schefter combine to achieve two things.
The first is that it is now all but a guarantee that Carson Wentz will enter Week 1 as starter Kyler Murray’s backup QB. The second is that both McCarthy and the team can now point to his ankle as the reason why, which is an easy off-ramp to avoid what might otherwise prove a difficult and uncomfortable line of questioning from the media.
Rumors swirled in Minnesota last season that the team was slow-playing McCarthy’s return after he suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 2. Wentz stepped in for McCarthy, who began 2025 as the Vikings’ starter, and led the team to a 2-3 record over the next five games (six weeks because of the bye) by way of competent, though far from overwhelming, quarterback play.
Minnesota brass brushed those accusations off as nonsense. Wentz subsequently suffered an injury to his non-throwing shoulder near the end of that run, which resulted in season-ending surgery and put the conversation to bed after health issues removed him from the starting quarterback conversation.
JJ McCarthy Trade Intrigue Could Continue Until NFL Deadline in November
McCarthy is now one of three quarterbacks on the Vikings’ roster, though he could still prove a trade candidate in the weeks to come.
Multiple reports indicate that Minnesota has gotten calls on McCarthy from competing teams across the past several days. Thus, how his injury and his relationship with the coaching staff and new front office progress may dictate if/when the Vikings look to deal McCarthy.
The NFL trade deadline this season falls on Tuesday, November 10.
Vikings Accused of Fabricating JJ McCarthy Injury as QB Saga Continues