For Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the 2025 season was supposed to be about him establishing himself as one of the top young signal-callers. Unfortunately, due to a high ankle sprain, McCarthy hasn't had enough time to show much of anything this year.
After missing his entire rookie season because of a knee injury, one might assume the young quarterback has been feeling pretty down during the last few weeks while sidelined with his latest injury. But that hasn't been the case, at least according to what Minnesota edge rusher Jonathan Greenard said about McCarthy during a recent appearance on the "Up & Adams" show with Kay Adams.
"I mean, just based off from last year to now, he's taking it way differently. You can just kind of see he knows, obviously, he's going to come back. I think last year, he kind of knew that he wasn't going to be coming back anytime soon.
But just to see he still has the same fight. I mean, if you've literally seen him, I think this past game, obviously, any game you see, he's one of the first guys cheering everybody on after a big touchdown or big play as if he just got off the field.
And sometimes we've got to pull him back. He's still dealing with that ankle, so we're kind of like, 'hey bro, chill out. We still got to have you come back.'
But just his infectious spirit of how he kind of just makes sure everything is not about him. Obviously, you see guys get injured, and it just kind of gets them down in the dumps, and they're like, 'Oh man, everything's over.' I haven't seen that at all.
So, to see him be the same person, if not more of who he was already, man, it's great.”
Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy ready to pick back up where he left off when he returns in 2025
McCarthy has missed the Vikings' last three games because of his ankle injury, and the team was able to come away with wins in two of those three contests with Carson Wentz starting under center.
The hope appears to be that McCarthy will be able to return to practice next week, and depending on how he looks in those sessions, it's possible that he could be back in the starting lineup for Minnesota's Week 7 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Of course, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell has also made sure to mention multiple times in the last couple of weeks that he wants McCarthy as healthy as possible before he returns to the field for the team.
Part of the young quarterback's skill-set is his ability to scramble and gain yards with his legs, so O'Connell wants to make sure that he's still able to do that whenever he plays in another game.
We'll find out a lot more about McCarthy's status for Week 7 during the next handful of days, but at the very least, it's good to find out that he's still been keeping his head up while not playing and recovering from his ankle injury.