Vikings rookie QB J.J. McCarthy to miss season following right knee surgery to repair torn meniscus

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — J.J. McCarthy’s rookie year with the Minnesota Vikings is already over.

The former Michigan star quarterback and first-round NFL draft pick will miss the season after undergoing surgery to repair torn meniscus in his right knee, which he injured in his preseason debut last week.

McCarthy had the operation on Wednesday after suffering the injury at some point against Las Vegas. McCarthy had been having a solid training camp and was pushing starter Sam Darnold, who signed a one-year, $10 million contract with Minnesota in March.

Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell delivered the news about McCarthy shortly after the team arrived for two days of joint practices with the Browns.

McCarthy’s loss was especially tough for a franchise looking for a fresh start after letting Kirk Cousins go as a free agent.

While some may have doubted Minnesota’s decision to take McCarthy with the 10th overall pick, the 21-year-old, who led the Wolverines to a national title last season, checked all the boxes over the past few months.

“I really believe that J.J. has kind of confirmed to me and a lot of our coaches and players that we got the right guy in the building for the future,” O’Connell said. “And he did it in a short amount of time. That’s what makes this news hard.

“Because you know just how exciting it would have been as a daily, minute-to-minute process moving forward. But I think that optimism should be felt by anybody in our building and hopefully our fans.”

McCarthy went 11 of 17 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in the 24-23 win over the Raiders — a performance that may have led to him getting more reps with the starters.

Following the game, he told the Vikings his knee was sore and imaging tests confirmed the meniscus tear. The Vikings initially hoped McCarthy would only miss a month while acknowledging they wouldn’t know for certain until he had surgery.

“I’m the most crushed for J.J.,” O’Connell said.

According to Sportradar, there have been 135 quarterbacks drafted in the first round since 1967, and McCarthy will be just the eighth not to play as a rookie. The most recent to sit out his whole rookie year was Green Bay’s Jordan Love in 2020.

With McCarthy no longer in the mix, Nick Mullens will be Minnesota’s No. 2 quarterback. Jaren Hall is No. 3 on the depth chart.

The 29-year-old Mullens started three games for Minnesota last year, when the Vikings’ season was derailed by an injury to Cousins and the team cycled through multiple backups.

“He’s not just another capable guy in that quarterback room,” O’Connell said. “He is providing context, experience and understanding of our offense on a daily basis. His experience last year was critical. I think he learned that he could be an explosive driver of our offense and also had some lessons of taking care of the football and trying to make sure we’re playing aggressively but not over the line by putting the ball at risk of being turned over.

“The team is excited about Nick because like many of us we’ve gone through the ups and downs but he’s in a position to really be a guy we can rely on and be a snap away.”

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