The Minnesota Vikings opened their season with a 24-23 win against the Las Vegas Raiders. Just a week ago, optimism was at an all-time high. J.J. McCarthy flashed his talent and growth from his college days, throwing for two touchdowns and making plays with his legs.
The following Monday, McCarthy reported “knee soreness,” and Kevin O’Connell said to media members that there wasn’t much concern, and they’d do preliminary tests just to be sure. As you probably know by now, those tests showed he had a torn meniscus, and a few days later, he had a full repair done, which will cause him to miss the 2024 season.
What This Means For J.J. McCarthy’s Development
There’s no way to spin this as a good thing. As one of the youngest quarterbacks in the league, McCarthy often got the “project” label from every scouting report you read and YouTube video you watched. Whether it was his deep accuracy, footwork, or building chemistry with his new receivers, all those are now on the back burner while he rehabs every day for about six months.
While that’s unfortunate, this season will be for mental reps, sitting in the quarterback and offensive meetings with O’Connell, Josh McCown, and all the other talented coaches the Vikings have. McCarthy will learn from Sam Darnold and Nick Mullens, pick their brains after watching them in games that count, and experience it all while rehabbing.
This is by no means the scenario the Vikings or anyone wanted. McCarthy will learn from a group of smart and capable coaches who were hired specifically to develop him, and by the next training camp, McCarthy will be ready to build off that impressive preseason game, presumably going into the season as the starter.
Highlights of JJ McCarthy's preseason debut pic.twitter.com/ywRbZnSw6F
— Jake B 〽️ (@MichFootballBEL) August 11, 2024
Why This Shouldn’t Change the Vikings Season Long Outlook
If you’ve paid any attention to the Vikings during training camp, Darnold has taken most of the first-team reps and played with the starters in the preseason, and O’Connell has all but gone out and said he’s the starter. Every action the Vikings took this offseason has pointed to Darnold starting not just week one but far beyond.
Darnold is a better quarterback than McCarthy right now, he was before the injury news, and the Vikings treated him like it since they’ve started practicing. There’s a lot to be excited about with this offense, Darnold is very talented with a major red flag in his decision-making. If these coaches can get to him and reign it in a little, Darnold could be the next Geno Smith or Baker Mayfield, something many analysts have said is possible. (The clip of the throw below is sick; if he does that as often as he did the drive against the Raiders, this will be a good football team.)
Sam Darnold dots 🎯
📺: #LVvsMIN on @NFLNetwork
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/1gVFr0Fo7r— NFL (@NFL) August 10, 2024
The Vikings’ Defense is too Good for a bad Team
Brian Flores led this defense to many top-half of the lead rankings when this was widely considered one of the worst defensive rosters in the league. In free agency, the Vikings signed linebackers Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkel and defensive end Jonathan Greenard. They drafted Dallas Turner in the first round, who flashed the most of any player on the team in Saturday’s win against the Raiders.
Dallas Turner is already dominating NFL OTs 🔥 pic.twitter.com/n01wZqVZ5E
— vikesinsider (@vikesinsider) August 10, 2024
The same safety trio of Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum, and Josh Metellus spend another year building off their success in this positionless, blitz-heavy system, and Byron Murphy returns as the number one corner on the outside with Akayleb Evans expected to be on the opposite side and has shown to be a capable starter. A potential addition of Stephon Gilmore could help as veteran depth, but undrafted rookie Dwight McGlothern has flashed in camp, and the Vikings have signed Shaquil Griffin and Fabian Moreau to add depth. However, Gilmore would likely be the best of that group.
I admittedly did not watch a ton of the defense these last two days, but when I did they were everywhere. Pace, Dallas Turner, the safeties, a lot of stunts — that unit can be quite menacing.
— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) August 15, 2024
We’ll Find out How Good This Team is Early
The Vikings have a brutal start to their season. In New York to face the Giants, at home against the 49ers and Texans, in Green Bay, then to London against the Jets before their bye week. All of those defenses are considered good at worst, and at best elite. Darnold and this offense will have to be on their A-game by the first kickoff because everyone has already written them off, and those who did write them off could be quickly proven right. If this is the Darnold everyone expects, the season could be over by the bye week. If Darnold has a career renaissance and lives up to the third-pick hype he once had, this could be a playoff team.
If the Vikings come out slow and look bad, there’s no rookie quarterback to turn to now. Maybe it’ll be a blessing in disguise, maybe it’s a major setback for McCarthy’s development. There’s no way to tell until we all see it. Until then, as J.J. McCarthy said, “Amor fati.” Love your fate.
Love you Viking nation. I’ll be back in no time. Amor fati
— J.J. McCarthy (@jjmccarthy09) August 13, 2024
Main Image: Brad Rempel – USA Today Sports
