JJ McCarthy Receives Meniscus Surgery, Out for 2024 Season

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00:00JJ McCarthy was the ultimate winner in high school, the ultimate winner in college, still

00:08a young player.

00:09It's not just coming to the league like it's Chris Wanky at 26 or 27.

00:12Very early, I believe 20, maybe 21 years old, we'd have a long, long list of what he could

00:18certainly accomplish in the NFL if he became a starting quarterback, which were the expectations

00:22of a first round pick.

00:23The only shocking thing when we were starting to see like some of the depth charts coming

00:27out was would JJ McCarthy be the starting quarterback right away for the Minnesota Vikings?

00:31But one thing I do know is if we were talking to Jim Harbaugh, his previous head coach at

00:36the University of Michigan, who's now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, what

00:40was he saying?

00:41Maybe the best winner he's ever been around at the quarterback position.

00:44And I started joking, okay, you know what?

00:46Maybe they'll trade Justin Herbert because they want JJ McCarthy.

00:49Obviously, we knew that wasn't going to be feasible for the Chargers.

00:52So he does wind up with the Minnesota Vikings, which was intriguing.

00:55Other teams may be looking around to get him like the New York Giants, just to say,

00:59you know what?

01:00We need a winner here.

01:01Commanding the pocket, commanding the huddle, being a leader of men.

01:04And you saw him in that first preseason game.

01:07The ability to throw the deep ball, the ability to run an offense, the ability to handle the

01:11football team without starters and still look competent.

01:14That's a big deal for a rookie quarterback.

01:15But also keep in mind, you were operating here from a quarterback that opened up his

01:20preseason with an interception and it didn't shake him one bit.

01:24You love to see that.

01:26You want to see the adversity here.

01:27You want to see the kid want to succeed and have a terrible start to your preseason in

01:31your first NFL action and then rebound with that type of performance.

01:35If you watch the game live or just watch the highlights, Justin Jefferson didn't play.

01:38He was in street clothes on the sideline, running up and down the sideline, miked up

01:42knowing that JJ McCarthy was ripping off deep ball after deep ball and probably saying,

01:47you know what?

01:48I think we found ourselves a franchise guy.

01:50Didn't have any words for the wear after the game, but the next day shows up back to training

01:54camp.

01:56Hey coach, something is wrong with my knee.

01:58They check him out here, goes under the knife and there could have been instances where

02:01he would be out, let's just say four to six weeks, four to seven weeks, four to eight

02:04weeks, something in that range.

02:06Now it turns out they open it up and figure it was best to do a full reconstruction of

02:10that meniscus and JJ McCarthy now is going to be out for the season.

02:14Now me as a handicapper, was I high on the Minnesota Vikings in the 2024 season coming

02:19into it?

02:20Not necessarily, but we told you repeatedly when you're drafting that high and getting

02:23a quarterback in the first round, your record really doesn't matter during that season unless

02:27it's like the Green Bay Packers and what they had luckily over the past 20 to 25 years with

02:32Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre and Jordan Love where it's like, you know what?

02:35We expect to be good.

02:36We're just drafting a quarterback for down the line.

02:38The Minnesota Vikings weren't drafting a quarterback for down the line.

02:41They were drafting JJ McCarthy because they believe he could be the starting quarterback

02:45from day number one and quite frankly, it looked like he might even be on that trajectory.

02:49Now granted, when you take a look at the schedule, the perfect landing spot for JJ

02:53McCarthy, honestly, maybe would have been game number one at the New York Giants on

02:57that schedule.

02:58But then San Francisco 49ers, the Houston Texans, the Green Bay Packers, a neutral site

03:04game against the New York Jets in London before you hit that bye week and then take on the

03:10Detroit Lions who have playoff and Super Bowl aspirations here.

03:13So when was going to be that perfect time if Sam Darnold did start at quarterback?

03:17Would it have been after the bye and also with the injury itself to JJ McCarthy?

03:21Maybe you were saying that, okay, the pressure's off the organization, the pressure's off the

03:26coach and also your young quarterback in JJ McCarthy where he could find a landing spot

03:31after injury somewhere around weeks 9, 10, 11 or 12 if you were not technically in the

03:37playoff hunt.

03:38It would have been a great spot because he still would have been around the football

03:40team still able to get back on the practice field.

03:43But now when you enter into the IR, you're done for the season.

03:46You're basically off of the practice field and that whole rookie season is a scrap.

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