Behind-the-scenes during the Minnesota Vikings 2024 NFL Draft process with General Manager Kwesi Adodo-Mensah and Head Coach Kevin O'Connell which netted the team seven new players, including First Round selections: Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy and Alabama outside linebacker Dallas Turner. The Vikings chose McCarthy from Michigan with the 10th overall pick on April 25th, 2024.
Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy tore his meniscus on Saturday during a preseason win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Vikings tweeted the following on Wednesday: “J.J. McCarthy underwent successful surgery this morning that required a full repair and he will miss the entire 2024 season.”
Done deal, right? McCarthy will miss the whole season? Not so fast, says Pro Football Talk‘s Mike Florio.
Florio wrote Thursday morning, “Vikings have yet to place him on injured reserve, which would indeed end his rookie season. If they wait to do it until after the 53-man rosters are set, he could potentially return later in the year.”
Before folks get their hopes up, let a caveat be crystal clear: It would be quite odd for the team’s primary social media team to tweet “will miss the entire 2024 season” — while leaving the door open for a late-season return. In all likelihood, McCarthy will hit injured reserve, and that’ll be that.
But Florio isn’t totally convinced. “It’s a fair question at this point. A meniscus repair typically isn’t like a torn ACL or a ruptured Achilles,” he added. “Unless McCarthy’s situation is such that there’s no way he could recover before the end of the regular season or the Vikings have made the strategic decision not to use him this year at all, even if he could be medically cleared, it’s possible the Vikings will keep the door ajar — without making it a thing.”
This brand of Vikings leadership, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell, have a documented history of treading cautiously with players’ injury recoveries, so rushing McCarthy back sometime in 2024 seems unlikely.
Florio concluded, “None of it will matter if/when the Vikings put McCarthy on IR before August 27. If they do it after, a return will be theoretically possible.”
Therefore, if one buys into the Florio theory, it’s a waiting game on the injured reserve designation. The Vikings basically have 12 days to plop McCarthy on IR, and if so, he would indeed be on the shelf for all of 2024.
For now, however, the door for a 2024 return is technically open.
McCarthy posted some positivity on Instagram on Wednesday, just hours after the Vikings’ tweet: “A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it,” a quote from Marcus Aurelius.
Minnesota will turn to Sam Darnold as the unabashed QB1 with McCarthy nursing the meniscus recovery.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.