The Minnesota Vikings were planning to decide on their new starting quarterback with a competition between veteran Sam Darnold and rookie first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. But due to a rather unfortunate situation, the Vikings are no longer going to have to make that decision.
J.J. McCarthy made his preseason debut with the team over the weekend. While he was impressive in his time on the field, he was sidelined from practice the day after due to knee soreness which turned out to be a torn meniscus. According to a report from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, McCarthy is now expected to miss the entire 2024 season after undergoing surgery to repair the damaged knee.
“#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.
#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. pic.twitter.com/t5e5LCvpwU
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 14, 2024
Obviously, this means that Sam Darnold will now be the team’s starting quarterback this season, taking over as the team’s first-team quarterback after the departure of Kirk Cousins, who left the team to sign with the Atlanta Falcons this summer.
We’ll have to see how Darnold performs.
