With Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold faring well after relocating in free agency, the Vikings’ primary 2025 starter — Carson Wentz — is done for the season. That will relaunch J.J. McCarthy‘s initial effort to justify his draft slot during a Minnesota season far off last year’s pace.
McCarthy is on track to return from a high ankle sprain in Week 9. The 2024 No. 10 overall pick has missed five games, certainly on the high end for this injury, but will be set for a reemergence against the Lions. Minnesota has been cautious with its top QB asset, but a key phase in his development will come soon.
Wentz’s move to IR will impact the Vikings’ depth chart, and while the team could theoretically look for a stopgap to provide more cover in the event it wants to keep slow-playing McCarthy’s return, it appears a depth addition is the more likely course of action. The team’s QB addition — should there be one — will not affect Max Brosmer‘s standing as the top McCarthy backup, Kevin O’Connell said (via ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert).
This proclamation shows considerable respect to a rookie UDFA who entered the season as the team’s third-stringer. Though, the Vikings did carry the local product onto their active roster — rather than waive him on cutdown day — to avoid a team poaching him. The Minnesota alum has thrown eight regular-season passes, most recently finishing out the Vikings’ loss to the Chargers on Thursday.
The Vikes nabbed Brosmer in May, giving him a $244K guarantee to sign as part of the UDFA class. The 6-foot-2 passer initially played at Division I-FCS New Hampshire before transferring to Minnesota in 2024. Brosmer started that season for the Golden Gophers, throwing 18 touchdown passes and six interceptions during a year that featured a 66.5% completion rate. Brosmer only averaged 7.0 yards per attempt, however, and profiled as something of a fixer-upper entering the NFL. O’Connell has been known to elevate QBs during his Twin Cities stay, and he is attempting to develop Brosmer into a steady McCarthy backup.
Minnesota did trade for a quarterback following Kirk Cousins‘ Achilles tear in October 2023, and Josh Dobbs quickly took over as the team’s starter. With the Vikes letting Darnold and Jones walk to clear a path for McCarthy — during an offseason in which Aaron Rodgers‘ efforts to play for O’Connell were not reciprocated by the team — this situation does not closely remind of where the franchise stood in 2023.
But McCarthy will need to show improvement based on where he was in September. The Vikings are set to give him that chance, and with no intention of demoting Brosmer, McCarthy will have no internal challenges to his job. The team does not have a quarterback on its practice squad, so a move will need to come soon. Given McCarthy’s injury history, O’Connell endorsing Brosmer as QB2 is rather important as the Vikings still try to compete for a playoff spot.