Vikings Complete the QB Room for 2026 Season
This year’s offseason has been focused on the quarterback position. The Minnesota Vikings wanted to build a stronger quarterback room around J.J. McCarthy to ensure the 2025 season was a one-time thing, so they went out and signed veteran Kyler Murray. On Thursday, the club added a second veteran.
Long story short, Carson Wentz is back for a second season in purple. Tom Pelissero reported on Thursday morning, “Veteran QB Carson Wentz is re-signing with the Vikings, sources tell The Insiders. So Minnesota’s QB room now features three former top-10 picks: Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy and Wentz, who played well last season before a shoulder injury.”
“Played well” is relative, but Wentz indeed looked like a competent quarterback most of the time, something Vikings fans didn’t always get to see from their QB room in 2025.
The Vikings confirmed the move shortly thereafter.
Vikings writer Rob Kleifield described the highlights of Wentz’s Vikings experience, “Highlights of Wentz’s initial time in Minnesota included his starting debut at home — a 48-10 rout of Cincinnati, in which he performed efficiently and protected the football while the defense put on a show; as well as his heroics in Week 5 in London against the Browns. Wentz found receiver Jordan Addison for the go-ahead score in that contest with 25 seconds left, and he passed for 236 yards without a turnover.”
Wentz was Minnesota’s QB2 in 2025, at least until he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury and underwent surgery. He arrived late; after the preseason, in fact. The Vikings decided that Sam Howell couldn’t get it done as the backup and traded him to Philadelphia.
Former No. 2 overall pick Wentz was signed, and he was thrust into action earlier than expected, having to start in Week 3 with J.J. McCarthy sidelined with an ankle injury.
Ultimately, Wentz lasted five games, completing 65.1% of his passes for 1,216 yards, 6 touchdowns and 5 picks, ranking near the middle of the pack in many advanced metrics. He provided a steady veteran presence and kept the season alive during McCarthy’s absence. Certainly winning over some fans around the league and in the State of 10,000 Lakes when he played as long as he did with a severely injured shoulder.
Wentz is no longer an explosive passer, but he operated the offense at a more consistent level than McCarthy, which is why multiple receivers had their best stretches in 2025 with him under center.
He now joins a quarterback room that still includes McCarthy and Max Brosmer, just like last year. This time, however, Murray is around, who is the betting favorite to start in Week 1. Murray and Wentz grew up Vikings fans.
It remains to be seen whether there are any surprising depth chart changes or whether Wentz is hired as the veteran QB3, a player to provide depth and insurance in case of injury. Under Kevin O’Connell, the Vikings have already used three or more quarterbacks twice in only four years. The first one happened in 2023 when Kirk Cousins went down with his Achilles injury and the coach had to turn to the mix of Joshua Dobbs, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall.
Having a third option in the building might not be the worst idea, given that both of those seasons went south mainly because of the quarterback play.
“I absolutely want a competitive situation,” Kevin O’Connell emphasized in his season-ending press conference when asked about the quarterback room. He now has four passers under contract who started games in the previous season, three of whom have top-10 draft pedigree.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.