Despite the season ending due to injury, the Vikings HC convinced that they had “got the right man”

The Minnesota Vikings received devastating news earlier this week when it was announced that rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy suffered a knee injury that required surgery. The bad news got even worse on Wednesday when the team announced that McCarthy would be out for the entire season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus.

The news comes hot on the heels of the Vikings' first preseason game, where McCarthy made his first appearance for the Vikings and looked good for a rookie being introduced to the NFL for the first time. There were some obvious things he needed to work on, but he looked good and seemed to be able to handle multiple receivers well. All very encouraging signs at this point in his young career.

These and other signs make Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell confident that the Vikings made the right choice with McCarthy in the 2024 NFL Draft. O'Connell spoke to the press on Wednesday after the team's joint practice with the Cleveland Browns and said:

“I really think JJ (McCarthy) has confirmed to me and a lot of our coaches and players that we have the right guy in the building for the future,” O'Connell said. “And he's done it in a short amount of time. That's what makes this news so tough. Because you know how exciting it would have been if it had been moving forward on a minute-by-minute basis. But I think everyone in our building and hopefully our fans should feel optimism.”

The Vikings wanted to recruit a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft, it was just a question of which one. Although there was plenty of debate among fans and media, the Vikings were confident in McCarthy when they brought him in for a pre-draft workout. That confidence led the Vikings to trade up one spot to get McCarthy with the 10th pick.

Fans will have to wait another year for McCarthy to make his regular season debut with the team, but he has shown some encouraging signs in his first preseason appearance and he has the full confidence of the coaching staff. It will be a long wait, but O'Connell and his team are confident it will be worth it in the end.