Injury expert on J.J. McCarthy: 'My suspicion is this is a small little flap tear'

A sign of hope that McCarthy's rookie season isn't over?

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy works during Minnesota's offseason OTAs on June 12, 2024. / Image courtesy of Andy Kenutis and the Minnesota Vikings

Nobody will know what type of procedure Vikings rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy will have done to fix the torn meniscus in his right knee until the procedure is over and done with, but an injury expert who specializes in the knee is optimistic that the 21-year-old rookie won't need the procedure that could end his season.

"My suspicion is this is a small little flap tear, a little annoying piece that they're going to go in and basically just trim out," Dr. Jesse Morse of The Injury Expertz speculated. "If the meniscus is really torn ... or there's a big piece of meniscus that is there that is too big to trim out ... they'll have to do a repair."

Morse added: "This is going to be one of two things. This is going to be, he'll probably be back early in the season, anywhere from Week 2 to Week 7, or this is going to be pretty much season-ending."

J.J. McCarthy #Skol

Suffered a knee injury

After initially dealing with ‘knee soreness’ after getting an MRI the team diagnosed him with a torn meniscus.

Sometimes these are minor and players can play through them, unfortunately this is not the case here.

There are some… pic.twitter.com/AHIyRSe9H1

— Jesse Morse, MD (@DrJesseMorse) August 13, 2024

The surgery is expected to happen this week, according to the Star Tribune's Ben Goessling.

“Hopefully we’re having a shorter timeline than a longer timeline,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said Tuesday. “But the most important thing right now is making sure, from a medical standpoint, that we’ve identified the potential severity when we do that procedure.”