Vikings Helmet Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
ArticlesNFLBy Kevin Harrish on

The Minnesota Vikings were expected to decide their new starting quarterback with a competition between veteran Sam Darnold and rookie first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. But after some rather unfortunate news, the Vikings aren’t actually going to have to make a decision, after all.

After J.J. McCarthy impressed with his preseason debut over the weekend, he was sidelined from practice with soreness in his knee that turned out to be a torn meniscus. It was not immediately clear how long the injury was going to sideline McCarthy, but NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported on Wednesday that McCarthy will miss the entire 2024 season.

“#Vikings first-round QB JJ McCarthy underwent a full meniscus repair this morning and is out for the 2024 season, sources tell me and @TomPelissero.The repair, done by Dr. Chris Larson at Twin Cities Orthopedics, gives McCarthy the best chance at a long, successful career,” Rapoport said in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.

With McCarthy not out for the season, that means Sam Darnold will now be the team’s starting quarterback this season, taking over after the departure of Kirk Cousins, who left the team to sign with the Atlanta Falcons this summer.

Obviously, this news led to a lot of reactions on social media.

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We’ll have to see how Darnold performs.

[Ian Rapoport]

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