Vikings HC gives J.J. McCarthy massive vote of confidence after injury

Even after Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy impressed during his preseason debut this past weekend, head coach Kevin O’Connell made it clear he was comfortable with letting the rookie grow as an unused backup through some or even all of the upcoming campaign. 

O’Connell's intentions became a non-factor once it was confirmed on Wednesday that McCarthy would miss the entire season after he underwent a full meniscus repair. 

Shortly after O’Connell announced the injury update, he spoke with Dianna Russini of The Athletic about why what he saw from springtime workouts through August gives him hope that McCarthy will meet the expectations Minnesota had when the club made the signal-caller the 10th overall pick of this year's draft. 

"All he really did Saturday (in the preseason game) was an extension of what his training camp has really been," O’Connell said about McCarthy. "So, that’s what obviously stings the most. Feel like it was a player who was just getting better and better every single day." 

Back on Tuesday, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk argued that McCarthy should choose a full meniscus repair instead of having it "trimmed" because the former "maximizes the amount of cartilage in the knee" and helps prevent future injury to the area. 

That same day, Alec Lewis of The Athletic pointed out that McCarthy should eventually be able to "spend more time than he otherwise would have mastering the verbiage of O’Connell’s system and the play concepts" amid his recovery from the procedure. 

While veteran Sam Darnold entered the midweek as the favorite to start over McCarthy for Minnesota's Week 1 game at the New York Giants on Sept. 8, Lewis noted that the first-year pro "was ahead of the curve" in his development. Perhaps that's why O’Connell was a combination of disappointed and optimistic during his chat with Russini.

"Now our challenge is going to be, how do we continue that progression when we don’t have the tangible results of reps to see the growth? And I will tell you, I’ll sleep easy knowing we’ve got the right guy in our building," O’Connell added about McCarthy.

That last line is an important public vote of confidence for a rookie who will now wait and see if Darnold resurrects his career playing under O’Connell over the next handful of months.