J.J. McCarthy's rookie season ended before it began.
The Vikings quarterback's second season hasn't yet begun, but it's already clouded with roster and injury uncertainty.
With such an undefined road ahead, all the 2024 first-rounder is asking for is a chance to prove his worth.
"All I can ask for is a fair opportunity," McCarthy said Tuesday on The Rich Eisen Show. "That's the one that I feel like everybody's given and it's fundamental. When money gets involved, things get complicated, and reps get skewed and there's different things that come into the whole 'political' world that everyone talks about. But I really just have to focus on controlling what I can control. My feelings don't matter."
Despite his status as the 10th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, McCarthy isn't expecting any preferential treatment upon his return it would seem.
"I'm not getting any grace," he said. "There's no sympathy. This is the big leagues."
McCarthy's one unofficial showing in the big leagues was a promising two-touchdown preseason debut for the Vikings in a 24-23 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Days later, he was held out of practice with what was thought (and hoped) to be knee soreness. Shockingly, it was a torn meniscus that would force the Michigan product to miss the entirety of his rookie campaign.
Piloted by head coach Kevin O'Connell, the Vikings turned in a surprising 14-3 2024 season. Much of the success was buoyed by a career season from quarterback Sam Darnold. Darnold's brilliant play petered out with a subpar showing in a Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions and a wild-card defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams.
Darnold's impending free agency coupled with a bad ending to his comeback tale, along with McCarthy's surgically repaired knee and inexperience have left Minnesota with quite the QB conundrum.
The 22-year-old just plans to move forward, much as he did during the season, taking from it what he could and trying to draw from O'Connell.
"Our conversations have just been [about nothing but] the greatest thing for the Minnesota Vikings," McCarthy said. "At the end of the day, there's a lot of things that are certainly above my pay grade and some things above his pay grade. He's the one that has the pen last on the field, and that's about all I know. So, just be in the moment with him every chance I get to interact with him and really pick his brain, because those are a lot of moments I could mess up thinking about the future, thinking about the uncertainties I can't do anything about. It's really just optimizing each moment and each time I have with that great mind of the game."
Clearly a fan of his current head coach, McCarthy's a product of his Michigan head coach, Jim Harbaugh, as well. There was thusly no gloom and doom despite a lost season to begin his NFL career. Instead, McCarthy's hitting the positivity pedal as he heads into a sophomore Vikings campaign that's sure to be as interesting as it is unpredictable.
"I'm just gonna control what I can control," he said, "and attack each day with an enthusiasm [unknown] to mankind."
