Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, three others expected to return to practice ahead of Eagles game

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, back stateside after 10 days abroad, said Monday that he anticipates four players returning to practice from injury next week ahead of the Oct. 19 game against the Super Bowl champion Eagles.

Chief among them is quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who has been out since after the Vikings’ 22-6 loss to the Falcons in Week 2 because of a high ankle sprain.

Also expected to return are left guard Donovan Jackson (wrist), linebacker Blake Cashman (hamstring) and center Michael Jurgens (hamstring).

Cashman is returning from injured reserve.

“Getting some positives here at the bye,” O’Connell said. “Comes at a big-time moment for us where we’ve obviously had some adversity from an injury standpoint. We’ll continue to work through that, but I like the way guys have stepped up and the way our team has battled throughout this first five weeks.”

The Vikings opted to keep McCarthy off injured reserve, which would have required him to miss the Eagles game due to the four-game minimum absence for short-term IR. It would have kept him out of practice that entire span, too.

O’Connell said McCarthy will get “extensive work” during the bye week to help prepare him for his return to team practices. Wide receiver Jordan Addison told reporters following Sunday’s 24-21 victory over the Browns in London that he plans to work out with McCarthy during the break.

Though O’Connell said Sept. 30 that the Vikings might return McCarthy to individual drills while the team was in London, the 22-year-old ultimately sat out all three days of practice in the English countryside with practice space more cramped than at TCO Performance Center.

O’Connell said staff will put together a plan for McCarthy’s ramp up these next two weeks with the goal of consistent increase while monitoring his soreness coming out of each day.

“He’s had some real moments of growth through this time,” O’Connell said. “Watching Carson [Wentz], watching the way Carson’s kind of gone through progressions quickly, just the value of putting the ball in play, even when it’s not your first progression.”

O’Connell noted that Wentz came home “pretty sore in that left [non-throwing] shoulder” after making a brief exit right before halftime Sunday. Wentz will be evaluated throughout the bye week.

Cashman was placed on injured reserve Sept. 11 after leaving the Vikings’ Week 1 game against the Bears in the third quarter.

Cashman’s potential game return comes ahead of a matchup for a Vikings run defense that’s struggled so far this season with one of the league’s top running backs in the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley.

O’Connell said he did not notice anything awry on kicker Will Reichard’s 51-yard missed field goal Sunday in the moment. Some camera angles of the kick circulating online seem to show the ball hitting a camera wire; the kick went wide right of the uprights.

O’Connell said he was not aware of league protocols should that have happened and had he been alerted to it by a member of staff in the booth or Reichard himself, neither of which happened.

“[Will] told me he thought he hit it well, and Will doesn’t end up that far off line historically since our time having him here,” O’Connell said. “Not really sure what to say on that one other than that was unfortunate if it did happen, and if it didn’t, so be it.”

A league source told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the NFL’s replay assist did not show the kick hitting a wire.

Lee was signed to the active roster from the practice squad Saturday for the game against the Browns while the Vikings were dealing with a patchwork offensive line due to injuries. He only appeared on four special teams plays.