The Minnesota Vikings not only lost their Week 2 contest against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night, but received some tough news on Monday as well. Young quarterback JJ McCarthy has been ruled out for an extended period, which could change the dynamic of the team’s offense, including for Justin Jefferson.
Will Justin Jefferson Struggle In JJ McCarthy’s Absence?
On Monday, it was announced that JJ McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain in Minnesota’s loss. He will be sidelined for 2 to 4 weeks, and veteran Carson Wentz will be the one replacing him under center.
The Vikings are in the midst of grooming the 22-year-old McCarthy into being their quarterback of the future. They selected him with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he was competing to be the starter in his rookie year before suffering a season-ending injury in the preseason.
ESPN sources: Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy is expected to be sidelined two-to-four weeks with a high ankle sprain.
With McCarthy out, Vikings QB Carson Wentz is now in line to start. pic.twitter.com/iZ1qvackMV
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 15, 2025
He came into training camp in 2025 in full health, and was the clear starter who took snaps with the rest of the first team offense. That group includes Justin Jefferson, who worked on building a rapport with McCarthy in the months leading up to the start of the regular season. The All-Pro wide receiver will now be catching passes from someone that he has minimal work with, and it could affect his production.
The season hasn’t started out all that well for Jefferson, even with McCarthy in the lineup. Through the first two games of the 2025 campaign, he has caught only 7 passes totaling 125 receiving yards, though he did score a touchdown in Week 1.
Dating back to last season, Jefferson will now be working with his third different quarterback in the last four games.
Jefferson No Stranger To Rotating Quarterbacks
Jefferson had built an elite connection with Kirk Cousins, who was his QB for the first four years of his career. There was only one occasion in which Jefferson had to play without Cousins in that time frame, which came when the QB missed the latter half of the 2023 due to injury.
It was a combination of Nick Mullens, Joshua Dobbs, and Jaren Hall who were throwing Jefferson the ball to end that season, and the wide receiver fared rather well. In his four starts after returning from his own injury, he gained 476 yards on 30 catches and scored two touchdowns, all while dealing with the rotation of backups under center.
#Vikings WR Justin Jefferson admitted he didn’t expect the team’s early struggles, instead calling football “unpredictable.” He also added that JJ McCarthy isn’t solely to blame for the slow starts:
“There’s room for improvement for him, there’s room for improvement for… pic.twitter.com/qRekp2Sde8
— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) September 15, 2025
Even Sam Darnold was technically a considered a backup. Jefferson caught 103 passes from Darnold in 2024, while putting up 1,533 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The Vikings are hoping that Justin Jefferson can attempt to replicate those numbers with yet another new face at QB. Minnesota will host the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3, who are dealing with their own injury issues, and will then travel across the pond for two games in Europe in Weeks 4 and 5.
