EAGAN, Minn. — While everyone else in the NFL 's record crop of first-round quarterbacks in the draft last year launched their careers on the field, J.J. McCarthy was forced to begin his with film study and in the training room for the Minnesota Vikings.
McCarthy would hardly consider that a wasted season, even though the torn meniscus in his right knee made him the first quarterback selected in the first round since the common draft era began in 1967 to not play any games as a rookie because of injury.
His gratitude journal helped take care of that.
''The little things that go overlooked and underappreciated when you are healthy and you can walk, or even the ability to see. I feel like that's been a great anchor for me every single morning, along with my meditation, to kind of put great perspective into my days and jump-start my day,'' McCarthy said, reflecting on the practice he started in college at Michigan and resumed after he was hurt in the team's first exhibition game and needed surgery four days later.
McCarthy was moving around crisply on the indoor practice field on Tuesday with a group of offensive players, wearing a backward hat and a recurring smile a session in the first phase of the offseason conditioning program that was briefly opened to reporters. He said he feels better than he did before the injury in August.
''I felt like I was back the second I started throwing. I was itching to be out there and get after it, and kind of always felt better than what I was supposed to feel,'' McCarthy said in his first interview with local media since Sept. 6.
The Vikings mulled in March the bold move of bringing in Aaron Rodgers, but they ultimately decided to table that as an emergency option down the road and solidify their commitment to McCarthy.
When Sam Darnold signed with Seattle and Daniel Jones and Nick Mullens also departed in free agency, the Vikings were left with just Brett Rypien behind McCarthy. Considering Rodgers made sense without any significant experience at the position, but a four-time NFL MVP wasn't going to be a backup. The Vikings settled on a trade for Sam Howell, who started all 17 games for Washington in 2023 and was with Seattle last season.
