A week after signing veteran Kyler Murray, the Vikings signed veteran Carson Wentz. It was a move that was confusing for everyone outside the building, considering they also have former first-round pick J.J. McCarthy and Max Brosmer on their roster.
It made perfect sense to coach Kevin O’Connell, who saw Wentz start five games before a left shoulder injury ended his season.
“I just think it’s about depth,” O’Connell said Monday at the NFL owners meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona. “It’s about the fact that, without too much of a rearview-mirror-looking backward, you see where the final standings were; where we were at 9-8 and ultimately maybe the one or two or three plays or sequences of games where you find your way into the dance, and that’s really all you ever want at the beginning of every year is to punch your ticket to compete in that one game to continue moving on.
“We’ve played three guys in one year. We’ve played four in another. We just feel like having the ability to get quality quarterback play throughout the circumstances we do not control throughout the season gives our team pretty historic data that says if we get quarterback play to a certain line, we win a lot of football games. So we wanted to ensure we are able to do that, but also make it a very, very competitive room and that’s regardless of who’s taking reps with what group. We want the quarterback position to elevate our team, and with the talent we have around that position, we feel pretty good about it also working vice versa the other way around.”
Wentz wanted to start somewhere, and Minnesota might be his best chance for that.
“We wanted to be patient and allow Carson to see what opportunities might be out there, but at the same time, Carson knew very on early in offseason, regardless what other moves or move we made in that room, that we wanted him back,” O’Connell said. “He loved being in Minnesota. He loves our fan base. He loves getting to wear the purple and gold. I know for some people it might be a, ‘Why would Carson do that?’ I think some people are discounting the fact that he’s really enjoyed his time not only being around [quarterbacks coach] Josh [McCown] and his teammates but being a Minnesota Viking. It’s an important thing to me to always know that it’s a place that guys want to come play whether they have previous experience with us, but there’s a desire and an enthusiasm about playing quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings.”
Wentz has 99 career starts and Murray 87. McCarthy started 10 games last season and Brosmer two.
Wentz, Murray and McCarthy all were top-10 draft picks, with Wentz going second overall to the Eagles in 2016, Murray No. 1 overall to the Cardinals in 2019 and McCarthy 10th overall in 2024.
They will compete for the job.
“Knowing that we feel comfortable and confident about the depth of our quarterback room, we want to prepare all of those guys to be able to take snaps and contribute to winning when called upon,” O’Connell said. “What that looks like, we’ll see.”
Hall of Famer John Madden once said, “If you have two quarterbacks, you have none.” The Vikings have three. What that means remains to be seen, but O’Connell appears comfortable with who he has in the room.
“I see a lot of ways that we’ll be able to continue the evolution and evolve our offense here in Year 5, but at the same time, principles I believe Kyler will be able to not only make his own but provide different layers to what we do with some of his experiences,” O’Connell said, “and the same goes for J.J. and Carson and Max as far as guys who now all have experience in our system, and that’s one of the benefits as we’ve seen before of playing multiple guys in a tough year for the quarterback position just from a pure health standpoint, which is what last year, so now we feel really good about the combination, depth, talent and the fact that we’ve got a room that’s going to push each and all of those guys are going to have great offseasons and be ready to rock and roll.”
