The Minnesota Vikings‘ path to the 2024 season seems to take a sharp turn. Being the first ever rookie QB to miss his debut season due to an injury, J.J. McCarthy’s career is expected to suffer a setback too. And that’s justified by ProFootballTalk’s X post, “J.J. McCarthy is the first quarterback drafted in the first round ever to suffer a season-ending injury in the preseason of his rookie year”. However, it looks like Chris Canty, the ex-Cowboys player, is on a different page, as he opened up in the UnSportsESPN show.

“No, because there is no pressure, for the coaching staff to put him in the lineup, now that he is dealing with medical, now that he’s got a legitimate injury, that they wanna make sure they give right for his career-longevity,” per Canty. Well, McCarthy’s torn meniscus after his Saturday’s win on the Raiders will keep him out of action for the entire season, per Dr. Evan Jeffries. But, it looks like Canty had more to say.

“A layer of complication where Sam Darnold makes troubles early on, and the fan base is clamoring for the new toy, the hot young quarterback in J.J. McCarthy got, they took top ten pick overall.” said Chris. But why did he bring Sam Darnold to his page? Well, Darnold did not have a great season with his former team as he recorded 13-25 with the Jets. Being the replacement for Darnold, McCarthy had a huge pressure to meet the expectations of the crowd too, and it looks like his medical condition will now keep him out of that. “When you remove that type of pressure, it’s always a good thing when it comes to the development of a quarterback.” per the former DL. And that’s not all.

Chris was confident that the Vikings’ QB would get enough time to watch and learn from the vet-QB’s comeback, “Now, J.J. will have an opportunity to sit back and learn how a veteran goes about his business”. In addition, the former DL also mentioned that McCarthy will now be able to watch how Sam prepares for ‘each day’s opponent’. It looks like the injured QB will get enough time to ‘learn a lot of football’ and find ways of improvement while he recovers, “Even though he is missing the physical reps, he still has an opportunity for a lot of mental reps,” per the former NFL player.

Well, Canty sounds confident of J.J.’s development as a QB, irrespective of the dark clouds. But it also looks like the former Cowboys player is also looking for Darnold’s comeback.

Sam Darnold: Vikings’ new hope after J.J McCarthy goes out of action

It seems like Darnold’s training camp performance with the Vikings was quite impressive. On 5th August, Sam had some spectacular throws, one of the best being his 60-yard-perfect spiral in the air. And that’s not all, as he also surprised everyone with a picturesque 77-degree at the TCO Performance Center. Although there wasn’t any direct praise from the Vikings’ coach after the training was over, but the vet-QB came with an impressive performance in the first preseason game as well.

It was last Sunday when the U.S. Bank Stadium saw Darnold throw for 66 yards of 12 plays on his debut game for the Vikings. And, it seems like he did it even with his ‘headset issues’ per reporter, Andrew Krammer. Furthermore, it seems like this impressed the HC as he highlighted Darnold’s importance for the Vikings, “Our football team has been and will continue to be excited about Sam Darnold and what he’s been able to bring”.

Well, Sam entered the Vikings’ territory with a QBR of 32.9 from the Jets, which increased to 51.4 with the Cardinals, and again went down to 49.3 with the Niners in 2023. With not-so-impressive QBRs from his last seasons, will Darnold be able to lead his team to the Super Bowl, or at least give them a winning season?