Initial J.J. McCarthy injury update appears to be an encouraging one

Early reporting is that McCarthy avoided a broken bone in his right hand on Sunday.

Dec 21, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) is taken to the locker room after a hit against the New York Giants during the first half at MetLife Stadium. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The initial reporting on J.J. McCarthy's injured right hand is that he may have avoided a significant issue. The Vikings' quarterback left Sunday's win over the Giants and did not play in the second half, with rookie Max Brosmer finishing the game at QB.

"J.J. McCarthy had his right hand in a fingerless glove in the locker room," tweeted Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune. "The QB will have further testing tomorrow, a source said, but he appears to have avoided a broken bone."

McCarthy's final play of the game was a strip-sack Giants touchdown where he held onto the ball on a screen play and then got lit up by Brian Burns, who was unblocked from the opposite side of the play. However, the injury is believed to have occurred one series prior to that. Two plays before he ran for a 12-yard touchdown, McCarthy hit his right hand on the helmet of Giants defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris.

#JJMcCarthy @Vikings
Play where he may have injured right hand
Worry for metacarpal fracture
Ruled OUT pic.twitter.com/E16JxblGc5

— David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) December 21, 2025

"Apparently it happened before his touchdown run," Kevin O'Connell said after the game. "I asked him if he was alright and he said he was. Then, when he went out for the next drive, that's when he seemed to have some discomfort there. So we'll evaluate it and make sure we find out what's going on there."

O'Connell said he didn't have much information about the severity of the injury at this point, but he did say that X-rays were negative, which is good news.

"The only information I have at this point is that X-rays were negative," O'Connell said. "But obviously, the hand, there's a lot going on there, so I don't wanna speculate one way or the other. Just crossing our fingers that we'll have him back out there."

McCarthy did not report any discomfort to O'Connell after the initial play, so he stayed in the game for the final series of the half, which is when his first dropback turned into a disaster.

"Quarterbacks hit their hands all the time, whether it's helmets or other defenders and things like that," O'Connell said. "It happened to me in college and I didn't even know I had a significant injury until the next time I took a snap."

O'Connell speculated that McCarthy himself may not have realized the extent of the injury until the play that resulted in a Giants touchdown. At the time, it looked like a poor decision from the Vikings' young quarterback, who held onto the ball too long and exposed himself to the big hit from Burns. But it's possible he was unable to even grip the ball enough in that moment to make the throw.

"Just trying to throw a simple receiver screen, very similar to what we had thrown to Justin on some of those third-and-long conversions, and I'm not sure he was able to even grip the ball," O'Connell said. "I don't know if he knew or not at that point. He was unable to grip the football, apparently."

BRIAN BURNS STRIP SACK TURNS INTO GIANTS TD

MINvsNYG on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/iG0D6Q0TZi

— NFL (@NFL) December 21, 2025

Before that play, McCarthy had put together a strong half. In addition to the rushing touchdown, he went 9 of 14 for 108 yards as a passer, and three of those incompletions were dropped by his receivers — including a would-be 25-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Addison.

"I thought he was in a rhythm of great decision-making early on," O'Connell said. "I thought J.J. was doing a lot of really good things. Really, really unfortunate that he was not able to finish the football game."

Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

This is now the fourth notable injury in two seasons for McCarthy since he was drafted. He had the torn meniscus that cost him his entire rookie season, a high ankle sprain that cost him five games earlier this year, and a concussion that cost him one game in late November.

Over the first three weeks of December, though, he's shown a lot of real progress. The Vikings hope he'll be able to play in the final two weeks of this season and continue that growth.

"It is unfortunate," O'Connell said of the injuries. "These last three weeks, really two and a half weeks or so, outside of that last play of the half there, he's looked like he's really found a place of decisiveness, ownership of the offense. So yeah, it's a bummer, just because I'm having a blast coaching him and seeing the growth."

Complicating matters in regards to McCarthy's potential availability this week is that the Vikings have a short week before hosting the Lions this Thursday in a Christmas Day affair. We'll likely know more on Monday about McCarthy's chances of playing in that game.