The Minnesota Vikings continue to push the message that J.J. McCarthy is their quarterback and will start as soon as he’s healthy, but a caveat still hangs over the team’s situation under center.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network shone a light on that caveat during the “Thursday Night Football” pregame show.
“Best case scenario for the Minnesota Vikings is that J.J. McCarthy is fully healthy, ready and their starting quarterback. He’s close. He did work out earlier this week, not quite there yet,” Rapoport said. “No firm decision until after tonight. If Carson Wentz goes out and throws for 400 yards, that will be taken into consideration.”
NFL Conspiracy Theories Suggest Vikings Are Holding JJ McCarthy Out Longer Than Necessary on Purpose
GettyQuarterback J.J. McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
McCarthy is inactive for Thursday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Changers, though he is the team’s emergency QB should Wentz and backup Max Brosmer both end up unable to play. Thus, McCarthy has now officially missed six weeks with the high ankle sprain he suffered against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, an absence that has included five games and the team’s bye week.
The line coming out of Minnesota is that McCarthy will go as soon as he’s ready, though Rapoport appeared to indicate there is a world in which the team keeps a healthy McCarthy sidelined in favor of Wentz, should the latter come out and dazzle under the national spotlight in L.A. on Thursday night.
That feeds into some mild conspiracy theories floating around the league that the Vikings have delayed McCarthy’s return due to his struggles across his first eight quarters of play at the NFL level: 301 passing yards, two TDs and three INTs on 58.5 percent passing with a 1-1 record as the starter.
Meanwhile, Wentz is 2-2 as the starter with 1,072 yards, five TDs and four INTs on 66.9 percent passing.
Vikings Made Curious IR Decision After JJ McCarthy Injury
GettyHead coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.
Rapoport also used an interesting choice of words in his follow-up comments to the above report.
“Kevin O’Connell, the noted quarterback development guru, [is] not going to put McCarthy out there until he can be successful,” Rapoport continued. “The hope is that’s next week.”
Rapoport said O’Connell won’t put “McCarthy out there until he can be successful,” not that O’Connell will hold McCarthy out until he’s fully healthy. That could just be semantics, but O’Connell and the rest of the organization have chosen their words carefully since the QB went down.
Longtime sports physician Dr. David J. Chao of Sirius XM and Fox Sports Radio took to social media Wednesday and made the claim that McCarthy should be healthy enough to play by now.
“Proof positive that [McCarthy] is healthy enough to play. Not saying he is 100%, but no way [O’Connell] would make him emergency QB for 2nd straight week otherwise,” Chao posted to X. “All I am saying is [Patrick Mahomes] won a [Super Bowl] playing thru high ankle sprain, and right now JJ is not [Mahomes], which makes this a ‘coaching decision.’”
It also remains curious that the team didn’t deem McCarthy’s injury serious enough to put him on the injured reserve list (IR) — which would have required him to miss three games and the team’s bye week while opening up an extra roster spot for the Vikings to use over that stretch — but has since decided to keep him out for six weeks total.
Minnesota has 10 days off following its Thursday night game before traveling to Ford Field to take on the Detroit Lions on November 2.
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