A Viking Officially Earns a Promotion
It’s been quite the eventful season for the Minnesota Vikings and their quarterbacks. Think back to the offseason, when nobody knew whether Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones would remain on the roster with J.J. McCarthy returning from his injury. Then, there was an Aaron Rodgers drama, and various other passers appeared in the rumor mill.
A Viking Officially Earns a Promotion
Ultimately, the club stuck with McCarthy at QB1, replaced backup Sam Howell with Carson Wentz, and had Max Brosmer as the developmental QB3.
Two months after setting the Week 1 depth chart, the Vikings have already gone through a six-week McCarthy absence as well as a season-ending injury of his replacement, Wentz. Suddenly, the franchise was a quarterback short of the usual amount of three. John Wolford was added to the practice squad on Wednesday.
One guy who will not be demoted regardless of the identity of the new backup signal-caller, however, is Mr. Brosmer. The rookie earned the QB2 label from Kevin O’Connell, the coach confirmed on Tuesday during his weekly chat with KFAN’s Paul Allen.
“I’ve been excited about Max and his continued progression as a rookie in the NFL continues to be arrow up and an exciting time for him and his growth and development,” O’Connell praised his student. “He’ll step into the number two role, whether we end up adding another guy here, just to making sure our quarterback room is complete and prepared for as much as possible.”
McCarthy is set to return, but his injury resume, mixed with Brosmer having barely any NFL experience, led to a QB room that required another more seasoned veteran.
Either way, Brosmer remains one snap away from seeing the field in a meaningful football game. There has been controversy around the fact that the Vikings kept sending Wentz out there last Thursday instead of giving Brosmer a shot when the game was virtually over. From now on, it looks like O’Connell is ready to trust his newcomer.
Brosmer’s limited game action came in the fourth quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals when the squad emptied the bench because of the blowout scenario, a kneel-down in London, as well as a few garbage-time reps on Thursday. He has thrown eight passes, completing five of them for 42 yards.
His preseason was quite exciting, though. He was the only Vikings quarterback to score a touchdown (twice) and snatched the QB3 role from Rypien, while also challenging Howell for the backup gig before Wentz replaced him.
Head coach O’Connell told the media after Brosmer’s third and final preseason game: “He’s one of those guys that can go out and apply the thinking really fast as he progresses through our system and through games, so his ownership of really not getting a lot of reps early – didn’t get a lot of work in the spring – to be able to hit the ground in the way he did with his opportunities, and training camp gave him more opportunities, culminating with tonight, getting the chance to start the last preseason game.”
In those exhibitions, Brosmer displayed nearly flawless decision-making and accuracy, two traits that are nice to have in the arsenal if the goal is to be a long-term NFL quarterback.
In the summer, the rookie also earned an endorsement from sophomore McCarthy, “Yeah, Max is the man. Just super detail-oriented, works his butt off, I can’t say enough good things about that guy. He’s just an awesome human being.”
Brosmer, 24, is the next man up.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.