The Potential Vikings QB Curveball
After Sunday’s trio of quarterback moves – Traded Sam Howell to the Philadelphia Eagles, signed free agent Carson Wentz, and cut Brett Rypien – the Vikings now employ three quarterbacks, the number of passers the club carried for the most part in each of the last two seasons.
The Potential Vikings QB Curveball
Those three are J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Barring any surprises, that will be the QB room entering the season. Brosmer has done enough in the preseason that a release would catch everyone off guard.
In fact, do we really know the depth chart behind starter McCarthy?
Brosmer was signed four months ago after the draft. He didn’t get picked, allowing him to choose his next destination. Staying in the state after a solid season at the University of Minnesota made sense for the young signal-caller to take courses in Kevin O’Connell’s QB school.
To start the summer, he was buried behind a trio of quarterbacks, and he had to convince the coaches to give him more snaps with the very few opportunities he had. Vikings reporters started to chirp about the undrafted rookie throughout camp, and he gained more and more buzz.
That climaxed in the preseason. In his first game, he looked sharp, delivering passes accurately and on time. In game two, he nearly completed a game-tying drive to close the game, and in game three, he showed that he can throw vertically with a couple of nice bombs down the field.
His accuracy and decision-making skills certainly translated, and he earned praise whenever someone was given a mic.
Just ask McCarthy, who has been in the spotlight all offseason. He said a couple of weeks ago, “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 was responsible for both passing touchdowns in the Vikings’ preseason efforts. It was a goose egg for McCarthy, Howell, and Rypien. The young passer spent his first five college campaigns at New Hampshire (they only played one game in 2020, and he missed 2021 because of a torn ACL). In 36 games, he passed for 8,713 yards and 70 touchdowns.
His final college season, famously, took place in the State of 10,000 Lakes, where he tabulated 17 touchdowns and five interceptions while leading the Gophers to an 8-5 record. He showed that he could compete at a higher level, and he proved that another step is possible in the preseason.
Head coach O’Connell told the media after the third 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.”
What if he’s not viewed as a developmental QB3, but the QB2 and immediate backup in case of emergency? His advantage over Wentz is that he had a four-month head start in the offense and has already built a relationship with some of his receivers and coaches. It should be noted, though, that Wentz had a one-year stint with the Los Angeles Rams and is familiar with that type of offense.
Experience is the calling card for Wentz, of course. He has started 94 career games, and the fact that he has seen virtually everything there is in the league, he might be better suited for the top backup job. The backup has to be ready within seconds and perform at a high level after sitting on the bench for three hours, and having seen a thing or two helps in that scenario.
The most likely plan would be for Wentz to be the new Nick Mullens and for Brosmer to be the emergency QB3. But until someone says the opposite, Brosmer being the top reserve can’t be ruled out.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.