Near the end of the Week 18 matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions last season, J.J. McCarthy was shown by the TV broadcast on the sideline in street clothes observing the game and cheering on his teammates as he did during all the contests he attended in 2024.

But after McCarthy was shown on the broadcast, people began to notice that he was looking a bit slimmer than before he suffered his knee injury last August. In fact, it was later revealed by ESPN’s Kevin Seifert that the young quarterback lost more than 20 pounds while recovering from his injury during his rookie year with the Vikings.

Well, earlier this week, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling shared that McCarthy’s weight is reportedly back over 200 pounds and he’s “approaching his pre-draft weight of 218 pounds now that he’s resumed strength training after his rehab.”

Weight loss for Minnesota Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy should have never been a concern

For the last few weeks, McCarthy dropping weight was used by way too many people as something to hold against him. It was as if he was the first professional athlete to ever lose weight while recovering from a significant injury.

No one brought up the fact that McCarthy weighed almost 20 pounds more at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine than he did during the final game of his college career less than two months prior. Somehow he managed to do that before he was even a member of a pro franchise that has one of the best training facilities in the entire league.

Any time Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has talked about McCarthy’s recovery during the last few months, it’s always been about how everything has been going well and right on track. Not once did O’Connell ever sound concerned about the young Minnesota signal-caller’s weight or with the progress of his injury recovery.

So now that McCarthy is on track to be back at his playing weight by the time the Vikings return to the practice field for OTAs this spring, what new bogus narrative will his doubters attempt to get people to freak out about during the next few months?