Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy has relatable quip when discussing meniscus injury for first time

The Minnesota Vikings had a really exciting offseason, with most of that coming from quarterback J.J. McCarthy . The 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft is the first quarterback the Vikings have ever selected in the top 10, replacing Daunte Culpepper, who was selected 11th overall in the 1999 NFL Draft.

His offseason showed a lot of growth and development, including an impressive 188-yard, two-touchdown performance in the preseason opener against the Las Vegas Raiders.

J.J. McCarthy speaks on knee injury for the first time

McCarthy took time to speak to the media for the first time after his knee injury and handled it with extreme poise. You would have thought he was a seasoned veteran with how well he handled all the questions. What he did do was give honest answers, including one that everyone can relate to.

You know, it's, it's tough, it's kind of a kick the balls. But you know what? You take everything that life throws at you and you find the positive in it, you know, good or bad. And you know, I feel like I've been able to gain those deeper connections with my teammates and really take a step back and learn the offense, and, you know, a more relaxed kind of state of mind. And I'm just appreciating every moment, kind of gradual thing."

What's interesting about the injury is McCarthy didn't know about the injury until the next day. He felt something was wrong when his knee buckled at home.

"The adrenaline was flowing so much throughout that 60 minutes, you know, even when I was not playing, I really didn't feel until the night, you know, when my knees started to buckle going down the stairs, and I was like, I should get this checked out. So, yeah, it was just Monday. That's when we decided, you know, to get the MRI. And that's what the results showed, that medial and radial tear."

There were a lot of questions for McCarthy on how he felt about the knee injury, as it's why he won't play at all during the season. He first started off by telling us what the injury was, as it was two separate tears in the meniscus.

"We've exhausted all options on what we're going to do. And you know, there's three different types of meniscus tears. You know, mine was medial and radial, so six weeks of just no pressure and all that. And you know, we'll go from there. But I'm just focused on one day at a time, doing whatever I can to help this team win and, you know, be successful each day."

Having two separate types of tears isn't great news for McCarthy or anyone for that matter. It requires a long recovery process that could be up to 8-9 months long. The real frustrating part for McCarthy was not knowing about the extent of the injury until he woke up from surgery.

"When you wake up from the surgery, that's like, the first time, you know. You go into it and it could be four to six weeks, or it could be six to eight months. So you find out if you got a brace on your leg post-surgery or you don't."

"So there was a What was the first thing you thought about," a reporter asked.

"Profanity? I was definitely upset."

Being upset is pretty normal, especially for an athlete who has been mostly healthy his entire career. McCarthy told reporters that he'd had contusions and bone bruises but nothing this serious. It's a real wakeup call for many reasons with the biggest being his development gets stunted.

The Vikings won't be able to work with McCarthy on the field until OTAs begin in April. That's frustrating for them and fans, but it's also a harsh reality of this injury. There are plenty of things that the Vikings can do to help his development, including the use of a Go Pro.

"Yeah, it's just making sure mental reps are, you know, of most importance, whether it VR being out there on the field, and just hearing the play call saying it going through. All those mental mechanics you go through every single snap. And we have this helmet camera now, a little GoPro on Sam's head. So watching film from that perspective is really good, too. So like I said, they've done, they've done a great job so far with just this whole process."

Things haven't gone perfectly for the Vikings with McCarthy, but this kind of positive attitude, the future remains bright.

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