We're not breaking any news or anything by saying that J.J. McCarthy's first season as a starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings didn't even come close to the expectations that most had for him entering the 2025 campaign.
However, throughout the season, McCarthy was dealing with multiple injuries that impacted how well he was able to perform.
In the first half of the Vikings' 2025 schedule, the young quarterback was dealing with an ankle injury that sidelined him for multiple games. Then, in the second half of the season, it was a lingering hand injury and a concussion that got in the way of McCarthy building any sort of momentum.
Well, at least we thought he was only dealing with the hand injury in the second half of the season. Now there might be more to the story.
During Tuesday's episode of the "Purple Daily" podcast, SKOR North's Phil Mackey raised a few eyebrows when he shared an unconfirmed rumor about the hand injury McCarthy suffered last year.
"There are now varying reports and theories on how injured his hand was and when exactly the initial hand injury happened.
I've heard some rumblings that [his] hand injury happened early.
And maybe there are multiple parts to, he hurts it early, and then it gets a little better, and then hurts it again.
You don't always get the full truth of the extent of injuries in the NFL.”
Was Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy dealing with his hand injury longer than we previously thought?
Originally, most assumed that McCarthy had suffered his hand injury in the middle of Minnesota's Week 10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. His completion percentage plummeted after hitting his throwing hand on the helmet of a Ravens defender in the third quarter.
McCarthy then wound up wearing a bandage on his hand during the Vikings' following game against the Chicago Bears, a contest where he only completed 50 percent of his passes and threw two interceptions.
His hand didn't seem to become an issue again until Minnesota's Week 16 win over the New York Giants. McCarthy had to exit the game early after his throwing hand made contact with the helmet of Giants edge rusher Brian Burns, and it was later revealed that he suffered a hairline fracture in his hand from that play.
McCarthy sat out Week 17 against the Detroit Lions and attempted to play in the Vikings' Week 18 contest with the Green Bay Packers, but he had to exit the matchup early again after the pain of his broken throwing hand became too unbearable.
So if McCarthy potentially injured his hand before Week 10's loss to Baltimore, when could it have happened?
The previous week against the Lions doesn't really seem worthy of Mackey placing an "early" label on it, so we should feel pretty good about crossing that off the list.
That leaves Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons and the season-opening win over the Chicago Bears as the only other options.
If it happened in one of those two games, then maybe McCarthy deserves a little more slack for playing through the injury throughout the season, and definitely way less criticism for essentially taking himself out in a meaningless Week 18 game.
Add us as a preferred source on Google