JJ McCarthy #9 of the Minnesota Vikings, here handing off the ball during the preseason game … (+)
This was a kind of punch in the gut to the Minnesota Vikings’ hopes for the upcoming 2024 NFL season. JJ McCarthy was their first-round pick at quarterback – the tenth pick overall in last April’s draft – and the designated successor to former starting quarterback Kirk Cousins, who had joined the Atlanta Falcons as a free agent.
But after last Saturday’s preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders, McCarthy learned he had a torn meniscus in his right knee and would have to undergo surgery on Wednesday. Had the surgery gone one way – toward a partial meniscectomy – the University of Michigan rookie QB could have returned to the field later this season. But the surgery went the other way – toward a meniscus repair. And when you undergo a meniscus repair, recovery takes a lot longer.
A meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage that sits in your knee joint. You usually have two of them in each knee, one lateral and one medial. If you twist your knee while it is under force, it can tear. Symptoms can range from none to “ouch” and not being able to bend your knee properly.
Not all meniscus tears require surgery. It all depends on the symptoms and limitations the tear is causing. In general, it is better to avoid surgery if possible.
One option is the aforementioned partial meniscectomy, in which the surgeon “cuts” or “removes” the torn part. After surgery, you can usually put weight on your knee and walk again within a day or two. It will probably be four to six weeks before you can return to exercise.
A meniscus repair is different. It can take six to nine months before you can return to sports. That’s because a repair requires stitches to close the tear. And it takes a while for the stitched area to heal. You’ll need to non-weight-bearing for about six weeks, which is quite a while. During non-weight-bearing, you can lose muscle mass, which increases recovery time.
Which surgical option you choose depends on the location, extent and shape of the tear. It’s a bit like deciding whether to sew up the tear in your skinny jeans or just rip it into a hole. A small tear in the buttock area is one thing. A large tear in the knee area of the jeans is another. Also, some tears may be too disjointed, so to speak, to be effectively repaired.
As for location, blood flow is a key factor. The periphery of your meniscus is considered the “red zone,” not because that’s where you score touchdowns, but because that’s the 25% of the meniscus that has good blood flow. Because blood can aid healing, a surgeon may tend to repair a tear in that area. The opposite is true in the “white zone,” the other 75% of the meniscus that doesn’t have good blood flow.
JJ McCarthy was the quarterback of the national champion Michigan Wolverines last season. (Photo … (+)
Not all areas of the meniscus receive the blood flow needed to heal after repair. The periphery of the meniscus is called the “red zone” because it receives blood flow, but it only comprises about 25% of the meniscus. Tears in the red zone have a chance to heal after repair, so tears in the red zone are more likely to require repair surgery. The other 75% of the meniscus is called the “white zone” because it does not receive blood flow. This area is more likely to have major damage because of the lack of blood flow.
With McCarthy out, Sam Darnold is now slated to become the Vikings’ starting quarterback. The next time McCarthy will play in an actual game is likely in 2025, when he will join Green Bay’s Jordan Love in 2020, Washington’s Jason Campbell in 2005 and Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer in 2003. He is one of a group of quarterbacks who were selected in the first round and did not play a single regular season game in their first season in the league. But the Vikings hope that once Darnold reaches the “red zone” in his heel meniscus, he will return to the “red zone” many more times on the football field.
