J.J. McCarthy’s wife, Katya, marked a big family milestone on Saturday with a birthday post for their son, Rome Micah McCarthy, and she didn’t sugarcoat what the journey into motherhood felt like.
Katya shared a tribute on Instagram for Rome’s first birthday, pairing the message with several rare family photos from the past year. In one image, McCarthy is holding Rome while Katya kisses their son on the cheek, with blue and yellow birthday decorations behind them. Another photo from the post shows Rome in a baby chair, happily digging into his birthday cake.
Her message was candid about how pregnancy hit her at 21 and how that fear gave way to something much bigger.
“Happy birthday to my baby. Being only 21 years old when I found out I was pregnant came with a lot of fear, but I quickly learned that there’s literally nothing better than being a mom, especially yours!!” she wrote.
She added: “I can’t believe we met for the first time only a year ago, but I also feel like I’ve known you my whole life. No words can express my love for you & how excited I am to watch you keep growing. You’re the best person ever.”
Katya and McCarthy first shared the news of Rome’s birth on Instagram when he arrived on Sept. 12, 2025. Their joint post included photos of the newborn and the message:
“Welcome to the world, Rome Micah McCarthy. The sweetest, most perfect gift from God!! We are so unbelievably blessed to be your parents.”
On the football side, McCarthy’s situation with the Vikings has grown more complicated. Kevin O’Connell has chosen Carson Wentz over McCarthy for the backup quarterback job, and O’Connell addressed the decision with reporters on Saturday.
“I'm looking at that right now as a week-to-week thing. Carson, he's got almost 100 career starts. What he was able to do last year from the standpoint of very limited repetitions but being able to apply a career's worth of experience.
“That's kind of what you need to do as a backup quarterback - especially early on when so much of the emphasis is going to be on getting Kyler as comfortable as we can possibly get him. But J.J. is still going to get a bunch of great work.”
McCarthy had also been the subject of heavy criticism earlier, after he was expected by some to be cut before Week 1 but ultimately made the 53-man roster.
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