J.J. McCarthy’s knee injury might wind up hurting Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah a lot more than it hurts McCarthy.
McCarthy has a torn meniscus in his right knee and will undergo surgery. That doesn’t spell the ruination of the Vikings’ 2024 season. Just takes all the fun out of it.
McCarthy wasn’t expected to start early in the season. Given that he didn’t play in a prolific passing offense in college, he might have been saved for 2025, or might have found himself overwhelmed if forced to play right away against real NFL defenses.
What McCarthy represented to this market was hope, and what he brought to the fan base was excitement, and now that he might miss significant time, here’s a slew of facts that fans might want to ignore:
The Vikings went 7-10 in 2023, then lost two of their three most important players — quarterback Kirk Cousins and pass rusher Danielle Hunter. Their other MIP, Justin Jefferson, is largely dependent on the quality of the quarterback he plays with, and now he will be playing with Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens and/or Jaren Hall.
Good luck, gentlemen.
What McCarthy getting hurt before the start of the State Fair means is that there will be no cavalry for the 2024 Vikings. If they are to be competitive in a daunting division, they will need to rely on an improved running game and defense.
Which means that the most important news of the week now becomes the team’s negotiations with free-agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore.