McCarthy's recurring injuries raise questions about his NFL longevity. Despite a promising start, another minor injury prompts a closer look at his health trajectory.
When the Minnesota Vikings drafted J.J. McCarthy to be the franchise’s next quarterback, the injury issues he has dealt with were not something the team expected. After missing his entire rookie season due to injury, McCarthy came into this year and actually had a really hot start. Things were promising for Vikings fans as not only did he look great early in the season, but the Vikings as a team looked very competitive, too.
After a recent stretch of missed games due to injury, McCarthy returned and looked solid. But now, another issue has popped up. McCarthy was listed as limited in practice on Wednesday due to a right hand injury he suffered last week against the Baltimore Ravens.
So that begs the question: Is there a real reason for concern with all of McCarthy’s injuries to this point? He has only played in a handful of games a season and a half into his NFL career.
The hand injury does appear to be the least serious of the setbacks he has dealt with so far. It’s worth noting he was able to play through it last week, and for now, it doesn’t appear to be something that will cause him to miss more time. Still, it could linger into this week, affect his performance, or potentially worsen with more contact. More updates will come as the week unfolds and injury reports roll in after Thursday’s practice.
In essence, this is not a reason for panic. There are still plenty of years ahead in McCarthy’s career. It’s possible that several seasons from now the rookie-season injury looks like an anomaly and the handful of missed games in Year 2 end up being a small footnote. But for now, while it’s still not something that should spark panic, it is absolutely something to keep an eye on. Having a franchise quarterback this injured early in his career is not the best-case scenario.
This week, the Vikings are set to take on the Bears on Sunday in a pivotal divisional contest that could effectively eliminate Minnesota from the playoff picture with a loss. All signs point to McCarthy playing, but we'll be keeping an eye on that hand.