Intro what's going on everybody Welcome in the Vikings Now by Chad Sports JJ McCarthy was just officially ruled out for the entire 2024 season this is following the reports yesterday that he was going to undergo miniscus surgery on his right knee and the question was was it going to be a 4 the 8-week recovery or was it going to be the full four the six months and then that obviously led him to be ruled out for the entire 2024 NFL season I'll give you guys my thoughts on the injury and also talk about signing some possible quarterbacks on the back half of today's show but before we dive into that if everybody could go down in the comments section and type those nines for jjz it's going to be a long battle for him recovering from this uh Tor miniscus so if you guys want to show him our support here show him that Vikings fans have his back tip those nines Down Below in the comments section now I do want to talk about um also what kep oano said about the um injury said the Vikings are disappointed but they strongly believe he'll come back better and have a long successful NFL career Kevin okono also said he views him as the franchise quarterback here in Minnesota so you know clearly what JJ did in his first preseason game was not or did not go unnoticed by members of the Vikings organization and specifically Kevin okono now I watched a JJ McCarthy ton of film breakdowns from that game on YouTube Chase Daniel did a good one if you guys have ever watched the QB school really breaking down um each individual play he had against the Las Vegas Raiders and a lot of these guys were saying what JJ showed in week one verse Las Vegas they didn't necessarily see that on tape when he was at Michigan and that was the point I was trying to make here on the channel for the past couple of months was just because Michigan didn't ask him to push the ball downfield didn't ask him to really put the offense on his back does not mean he could not do so but we saw against the Raiders after that first interception he bounced back uh finished the game 10 of 14 180 yards two touchdowns couple blown coverages by the Las Vegas Raiders third and fourth stringers but he was able to take advantage and you know the number one takeaway I had from his preseason games was the zip he puts on the football we saw it during the training camp Clips we saw it during OTAs that he puts so much velocity specifically moving uh throwing over the middle of the field and we saw that specifically to that one first and 10 throw he had the Nick Muse Nick Muse the tight end was running a Crossing route and JJ put it right on his Dome it looked like it was going 110 miles per hour when it left his hand um and he also just showed great pocket awareness also the throw he had the Tristan Jackson um it was on play action he had a linebacker blitzing right in his face and he stayed in there stood strong in the pocket and then delivered a dart um to Tristan Jackson on that play but you know to conclude my thoughts on JJ then we'll talk about some free agent targets here in a second that the Vikes could bring in even though I do think the Vikings are probably going to just roll out there with Nick mowen or jiren Hall if something were to happen to Sam darnold but to conclude my thoughts JJ has lived up to everything we thought he was going to be coming out of college you know just in every interview he is very mature he's professional he carries himself the right way and he carries himself like you would want a franchise quarterback to do so and you know even he showed me more than I thought in that first preseason game versus Las Vegas I was already very high on him I had him ranked as my second best quarterback in this year's class and you know even with Sam Darnold my high expectations he still blew me away a little bit against the Raiders but JJ's going to bounce back better than ever and you know ideally this season we would have hoped that JJ wouldn't have uh wouldn't have needed to play either way like I said an ideal Viking season go Sam darnold starts he ends up popping and then he leads the Vikings maybe to a Wild Card Weekend um in the playoffs and then next year JJ steps in but the biggest downside of this is that instead of JJ really diving into the Playbook and he'll still be able to do so and really try to maybe put more weight on his frame or whatever he wants to do to get him better it's just going to be um it's just going to be rehab for him and you know he's going to fully be diving into this Playbook from everything I've heard about him him and heard him talk this is just going to be another challenge that he is going to face head on so I'm excited to see Sam darnold play and actually the Vikings do have joint practices with the Cleveland Browns later today and also we will actually be going live uh in about 30 minutes or so here breaking down the latest round your Minnesota Vikings so a lot coming up so make sure you guys do stay tuned but again show JJ McCarthy some love type those nines down below now I do want to talk about some free agent quarterbacks that the Vikes could bring in um obviously I'm assuming they're going to you know run with Sam darnold qb1 no duh he will probably start all 17 games barring um if he does receive an injury but even if darnold does get hurt I'm assuming the Vikings are just going to roll out there with Nick Mullen or jiren Hall I don't know if they would make a play on the market now this could be a situation where let's just say Sam darnold goes five- two he's looking great and then let's just say something happens to him where he can't play then maybe they go try to hit the trade market or bring in a free agent quarterback but here the best ones still out there uh Ryan tanel he is still the top free agent then there's a significant drop off after that and you know my argument to bringing in taniel would just be if something were to happen to Sam darnold and let just say his football team starts off the season pretty hot you would much rather have him in there rather than Nick mowans we know who Nick mowen is it's going to be the typical 250 300 yard game where he's throwing three interceptions and he's also throwing three touchdowns makes her entertaining football kind of has some jamus Winston in him but again is that the best guy you want to roll out there um for the remainder of the Season probably not but you also got guys like Brian Hoyer bla Gabbert Trevor Simeon AJ McCaron um also on that list so again there's not a ton of good options out there remaining but Tano's still out there um and he's like I said I would assume he's probably just waiting an opportunity and maybe this is it um where a quarterback does get in but again is he going to come in and want to be the backup to Sam Dar the whole year I don't necessarily think so but hey this is a guy who's got an 81 and 70 record overall has thrown for over 34,000 yards in his career 216 touchdowns 35 years old so he's got the experience and listen this is a guy who's been to an AFC Championship game with a strong Run game uh led by Derrick Henry obviously had Mike Rabel holding down the defensive side of the football there in Tennessee but he wouldn't be a bad option for the Minnesota Vikings but you know I think think their plan roll out Sam darnold see what he can you know obviously do with this roster but I really feel bad for the other 52 players on this Vikings team like I'm sure they're going to Rally around Sam darnold try to get the most out of him and really you know hopefully try to make a playoff appearance this upcoming year but you got to be thinking about a guy like Justin Jefferson I mean he was miked up uh in the third quarter when JJ threw his two touchdowns and you could see the excitement on his face where he's like that could be my guy that could be our franchise quarterback and we could really have have JJ the JJ for the next 10 seasons obviously that is still the plan but this is just a minor setback hopefully barring or hopefully setting up a major comeback for JJ McCarthy but I feel bad for guys like darasa Aaron Jones Jordan Addison like all these weapons like I'm assuming they were probably seeing McCarthy in practice and seeing that he's a little better than darnold right now because I saw that in the first preseason game and everything I've seen from practice so you know darnold he's going to have to show up and show out for this team or else it's going to be a very long year for the Vikings and also I was just still looking at the Vikings opening schedule here uh early on today it is absolutely brutal um I mean they open in New York against the Giants which is just going to be a tough game no matter what you think of you know the Giants ending this year but then you got the ners Texans Packers Jets Lions Rams Colts Jags like the Titans even on the road in Tennessee is a tough game and then you're in Chicago you got the Cardinals Falcons the Bears again the Seahawks Packers lions like there is no easy game on this schedule could be a very long year for our Minnesota Vikings but hey we're still going to hold it down here on the channel so make sure you guys are subscribed we be going live in about 30 minutes or so so if you guys want to tune in for that highly suggest you guys do so but disappointing disappointing day for the Minnesota Vikings but we'll see you guys next time as always let's go bikes [Music]