The Minnesota Vikings have been without the services of second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy for the past three weeks as he continues to work his way back from injury.
McCarthy is dealing with an ankle injury that was initially expected to keep him out for two to three weeks. So, with McCarthy now having missed three contests, the assumption is he’s very close to returning.
Luckily for the Vikings, McCarthy has an extra week to get right with Minnesota on a bye in Week 6.
On Tuesday, CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz revealed what the plan is for McCarthy this week, and it’s definitely good news.
J.J. McCarthy injury update
According to Zenitz, McCarthy will be in the team’s facility during the bye week and is expected to get some throwing in as he continues to work his way back.
“The plan is for him to be at the Vikings facility during the team’s bye week this week throwing with other players as he continues to advance back from his ankle injury, sources tell [CBS Sports],” Zenitz reported.
While this update does nothing to guarantee McCarthy will be back in Week 7, the fact that he’s going to be throwing shows he’s moving in the right direction, which puts him in play to return after the week off.
Not to mention, McCarthy will be four weeks removed from his injury after the bye, which is one week longer than the high end of his reported return timeline.
And, given the fact that the Vikings didn’t place him on injured reserve suggests the team didn’t expect him to miss a fourth game.
In McCarthy’s absence, the Vikings have deployed veteran Carson Wentz, who has performed admirably the past three games and is keeping Minnesota afloat after winning two of those contests.
Because they’re on a bye, the Vikings won’t release an injury report this week, but it stands to reason we’ll get some semblance of an update on McCarthy from the team or an NFL insider at some point over the next week.
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