Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy is injured again.
McCarthy suffered a hand injury when he was strip-sacked by Giants pass rusher Brian Burns just before halftime and was ruled out for the rest of the game at the start of the second half.
It continues a disturbing pattern for McCarthy, who has not been able to stay healthy in his first two NFL seasons. Today’s game was just the ninth start of McCarthy’s career, and if his hand injury is as bad as it looked, he will miss the final two games of the season and still have just nine starts in his career at the end of his second NFL season.
The Vikings need to know whether McCarthy, their 2024 first-round draft pick, is their franchise quarterback of the future. But the reality is he hasn’t played enough, and hasn’t played well enough when healthy, to give the Vikings any confidence that they can build around him going forward.
Undrafted rookie Max Brosmer is now in at quarterback for the Vikings.
Vikings center Ryan Kelly has also been ruled out with a concussion. That’s alarming because of Kelly’s history; this is the sixth diagnosed concussion of his NFL career.
