J.J. McCarthy has had nearly a month to process how his rookie season ended.
He's still stunned by what happened.
"Extremely shocked," McCarthy said when asked how he reacted when informed of the seriousness of his season-ending knee injury. "I thought it was a bruise. I thought at most it could've been a strain somewhere. But when they told me it's a pretty serious tear, yeah, I was taken away by that."
McCarthy suffered a torn meniscus and surgery would determine how much time he'd miss. If doctors opened up the knee and decided to trim the meniscus, he'd have a chance to return at some point in the 2024 season. If it was serious enough to require a full repair, his season was over.
In the end, doctors chose the latter, ending McCarthy's rookie campaign after just one preseason game.
"It's tough. It's kind of a kick in the balls, but you take everything that life throws at you and you find the positive it, good or bad," McCarthy said. "I feel like I've been able to gain those deeper connections with my teammates and really take a step back and learn the offense, you know, in a more relaxed state of mind. I'm just appreciating every moment."
It's common for rookies to enter the NFL and slam into what is known as the rookie wall at some point, essentially running out of gas deep into the season after spending the last year doing nothing but football. Their calendars become a marathon in that first year, playing college football, training for the NFL Scouting Combine, going through the draft process, rookie minicamp, organized team activities, training camp and beginning their first NFL season.
That constant churn means there's little downtime to decompress, rest and reset before embarking on an NFL season that begins in early September and doesn't end until after the calendar turns to the next year. In such an environment, it can be difficult for a player to digest an offense, and is especially challenging for most quarterbacks.
Now that McCarthy is sidelined, he's able to focus on the mental side of the game while rehabbing without the pressure of preparing for on-field action.
In short, his injury could be a blessing in disguise, even if it was tough to stomach.
"The biggest learning process is my routine throughout the week," McCarthy said. "Let me solidify what it's like to go through the week, and with the benefit of not having pressure to perform on Sunday. So, by the time I do play, whenever that is, next year, the following year, whenever it is, I'll be ready, and it won't be like this is my first game.
"There's a lot of different ways that you can find the truly amazing things that we overlook in life in times like this because just being able to walk is such a blessing, and I don't know that unless I don't have it. So, just going through stuff like that has been what I've been doing."
Minnesota will forge ahead with Sam Darnold as their starter, and might come to miss McCarthy at some point in 2024. He undoubtedly wishes he could be out there for his teammates. But in the larger scheme, the wait could end up being worth it.
