'This is his playground': J.J. McCarthy's dad advises Vikings fans not to worry

"This is where he wants to be and where he thrives at."Jim McCarthy, J.J. McCarthy's dad

"He won't be nervous at all," said Jim. "Mom? There we go. Mom's going to be the one like, 'Alright, let's calm her down.' I'll be a little, you know, it's kind of like one of those things. You take your first pass, or your first step, or when he started his first game as a sophomore at Nazareth, or when he went to Michigan and got in for the first time. Then after he throws, you realize that this is his playground. This is where he wants to be and where he thrives at."

McCarthy's debut comes after a year-long delay due to a meniscus injury that saw him miss the entirety of his rookie season. Now, over a year later, McCarthy is itching to get his NFL career started.

Subscribe: Sign up for the free Vikings On SI newsletter

"As he would always say and the way he looked at things, yes he was injured but he looked at it as a blessing because it was a pure learning opportunity for him," said Jim when asked about how J.J. handled the injury last year. "Call it a true redshirt year. ... So when that happened, right away he looked at it as 'OK I'm going to turn this around.' He got involved in defensive meeting rooms. He asked questions. ... So, how hard it was for him, he turned it into a positive. It let his body relax and let his body rest. Now he's fully rejuvenated."

Jim, meanwhile, is still a Bears supporter... so long as they don't get in the way of McCarthy's team.

"Let's put it this way, I want the Vikings to win because I want my son to succeed," he said. "And that franchise, and that ownership group, the way they have welcomed the McCarthys as well as they treat everybody — there's a reason why they're No. 1 by the NFLPA in regard to how they handle gameday, how they handle everything. This organization is amazing to play for and I want J.J. to succeed as much as I can. But, you know what? For the Bears fans that are here, I bled for you guys. It's the '85 team, we could recite the whole roster. We could go over the Super Bowl. I want you guys to have success, as long as it doesn't affect my son and the Minnesota Vikings, right now."

"It is such a celebration just for our family just to be able to watch him play here. It's beyond exciting for us," Jim added.

More from Vikings On SI