Vikings’ Rising Star QB J.J. McCarthy Out for 2024 Season

J.J. McCarthy’s 2024 season was over before it actually began.

It’s official: Minnesota Vikings’ rookie quarterback is expected to miss until 2025 following a procedure Wednesday to repair a meniscus tear within his right knee the head coach Kevin O’Connell said.

The news broke the optimism about McCarthy’s progress on the field and the team was left without an experienced Sam Darnold, who signed an one-year deal that was worth 10 million dollars in the month of March as the likely starter for 2024. The other quarterbacks on Vikings list are 2023 relics Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall.

On Wednesday, while at in the Cleveland Browns’ practice facility located in Berea, Ohio, where the Vikings will be practicing this week O’Connell tried his perfect to give a positive spin on the difficult news.

“He’s confirmed everything that I hoped to see early in training camp through his performance last Saturday,” O’Connell declared, “but our fan base and everybody should be thrilled that we’ve got our new team quarterback in the franchise, I think is in the stadium. Now it’s all about the distinct aspect of continuing a crucial training process for him, where the physical exercises won’t be as effective in the near future but it’s going to be a minor obstacle to overcome.”

McCarthy got injured one time during the preseason game on Saturday with the Las Vegas Raiders. McCarthy reported persistent soreness to team medical officials on Monday.

“Other quarterbacks in our league have gone through similar things early on in their journey and came back better and stronger than ever, and that is not only my expectation, but I know that is going to happen for J.J,” O’Connell stated. “We’ll have a great plan for him not only in the quarterback room with those other guys, but a process so that him and I can continue to build our rapport and make sure there is a day-to-day football process.”

The Vikings selected McCarthy to be the future replacement of Kirk Cousins, who departed in free agency and joined Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta Falcons. To benefit to avoid playing McCarthy prior to his readiness the Vikings hired Darnold while keeping Mullens as a player. There was a good chance that Darnold was set to begin week one against New York Giants even if McCarthy was healthy.

McCarthy showed steady improvement in the past, despite his performance was inconsistent during OTAs and minicamps in the spring. Darnold was the only player to get only two of the Vikings first-team snaps in the drills 11-on-11 in training camp, however McCarthy’s two touchdowns in the preseason game on Saturday’s 24-23 victory against the Raiders probably would have been a catalyst for more training with offensive players.

The injury has cut off this momentum. There was a glimmer of hope that the meniscus injury could be repaired with an “trim” procedure that would allow McCarthy to return in mid-season however, an expert medical team, led by Vikings orthopedic doctor Dr. Chris Larson determined that it was necessary to repair the meniscus completely.

In a Wednesday interview, O’Connell lauded McCarthy’s “transformation” and added: “He had started to really look like an NFL quarterback.”

“I really believe that J.J. has kind of confirmed to me and enough our coaches and players that we got the right guy in the building for the future,” O’Connell declared. “And he did it in a short amount of time. That’s what makes this news hard. Because you know just how exciting it would have been as a daily, minute-to-minute process moving forward. But I think that optimism should be felt by anybody in our building and hopefully our fans.”