How long the Minnesota Vikings will be without J.J. McCarthy is among the most important questions facing a team loaded with talent but off to a slow start this season.
For better or worse, the Vikings went all-in on McCarthy when they let both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones walk in free agency. The two are both current NFL starters and are 3-1 collectively through two weeks.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is 1-1 after McCarthy led a borderline miraculous 11-point comeback against the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter of Week 1. However, the young QB and his offense have been otherwise anemic, producing just 12 points in the other seven quarters of the campaign.
McCarthy sustained a serious ankle sprain in Week 2, as the Atlanta Falcons defense smothered him to the tune of 11 quarterback hits and six sacks. Head coach Kevin O’Connell was immediately clear that McCarthy is unlikely to play Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, and early speculation from ESPN’s Adam Schefter projected McCarthy would miss between two and four weeks.
However, Minnesota got some good news on that front Friday.
J.J. McCarthy will be out,” O’Connell confirmed. “He was able to be out at practice and stand right next to me as I’m calling the plays into Carson [Wentz]. And that’s the best development and dialogue in this particular short-term that he’s gonna be able to have. … [He’s] handling his responsibilities from a rehab standpoint, so we’re kinda through the initial wave of that, getting the swelling down and those things.”
“I know he was in [a walking boot] on the practice field just as a precautionary thing,” O’Connell continued. “I believe [he’s out of the boot], whether it’s in the building or walking around the locker room.”
Vikings Need J.J. McCarthy to Play, Improve to Justify Letting Other Established Veterans Land Elsewhere
GettyMinnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Minnesota getting McCarthy back under center as quickly as possible is the best scenario for everyone involved, save perhaps Wentz and third-string QB/undrafted rookie Max Brosmer.
Given that the Vikings selected McCarthy No. 10 overall in 2024, trading multiple late-round picks to move up one spot to get him, and then paid him $22 million on a four-year rookie contract creates an organizational incentive to develop the 22-year-old QB and turn him into a viable NFL starter.
The only way to do that is to get him starting reps, which is why the team moved on from Darnold and Jones and didn’t bring back the likes of Kirk Cousins as a backup option, despite the fact that doing so might have made sense in several ways.
Carson Wentz Can Cause Vikings Problems by Succeeding or Failing
GettyQuarterback Carson Wentz of the Minnesota Vikings.
If Wentz struggles and Minnesota loses games, that’s bad across the board. Should he play well and the Vikings win a two or three times with Wentz as the starter, that could put the team in an awkward position when McCarthy returns healthy.
If Minnesota is 2-0 or 2-1 with a competitive loss behind Wentz, and then O’Connell and company insert McCarthy back into the starting lineup and his early struggles reappear, some players in the locker room and/or members of the fan base might become disillusioned.
As such, the best thing for everyone involved is McCarthy to get healthy by Week 4 if possible, and Week 5 at the latest, return to the starting lineup and play through his growing pains.
No matter what happens, McCarthy should be better by the second half of the season if he can simply get reps, and Minnesota can potentially avert what otherwise might be a crisis of confidence in a young player at the game’s most important position on whom the team has already made an irreversibly huge bet.
Vikings Get Vital Injury Update on Quarterback J.J. McCarthy