Vikings Re-Sign Wentz, Adding Another Level of Intrigue to QB Competition

The Minnesota Vikings have added another quarterback to a crowded room.

The Vikings re-signed quarterback Carson Wentz to a one-year deal. Wentz previously served as the team’s backup quarterback, and filled in for sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy when he went down with injury. With Wentz, McCarthy, and former first overall pick Kyler Murray in the fold, the stage is set for an intense competition for the starting spot this offseason.

Wentz was signed late in the offseason as a backup. When McCarthy missed time due to a high ankle sprain, Wentz started five games in relief. His first start for the team was a 48–10 rout of the Cincinnati Bengals. He completed 14 of 20 passes for 173 yards and two touchdowns.

In his second start, Wentz put up a Herculean effort at comeback against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Down 21–6 going into the fourth quarter, Wentz put up two touchdown drives to bring it to 24–21; but a last-minute effort stalled out. Wentz finished the game 30 of 46 passing for 350 yards, two TDs, and two interceptions.

He did lead a comeback the next week against the Cleveland Browns in Dublin, Ireland. Wentz went 25 of 34 passing for 236 yards and the game-winning touchdown. But Wentz suffered a shoulder injury that caused him pain and forced him to wear a shoulder brace.

The week after that, the Vikings lost a heartbreaker to the Philadelphia Eagles 28–22 in London. Wentz completed 26 of 42 passes for 313 yards; he did not throw a touchdown, but had two interceptions.

He started the next game against the Los Angeles Chargers, but went down again with a shoulder injury that ended his season. He went 15 of 27 passing for 144 yards, a TD, and a pick.

Re-signing with the Vikings marks the first time Wentz has returned to a team since his five years as signal-caller for the Eagles. And he returns to the team he grew up watching.

“I used to cheer for the guys that I’m walking down the hallway seeing,” he said at a press conference before his first start last year. “Used to come to the Metrodome, and I was waving the towel, I was, part of the ‘Sköl’ chants, all the things. And so running out of that tunnel this week will probably hit me a little bit different, in a really cool, kind of surreal way.”

With Wentz back in the fold, the Vikings have set up an intense quarterback competition featuring three former top-10 picks. J.J. McCarthy—drafted 10th overall out of Michigan in the 2024 NFL Draft—missed his entire rookie season with an injury, then struggled mightily last season in the 10 games he started. He went 6–4 as a starter but completed just 140 of 243 passes for 1,632 yards, 11 TDs, and 12 interceptions.

The Vikings signed former first overall pick Kyler Murray this offseason. Murray spent the past seven seasons as the starting quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. But Murray only went to the playoffs one time in his career and struggled to find his footing in Arizona. He is looking to become head coach Kevin O’Connell’s next reclamation project, after Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones both turned their careers around in the Twin Cities.

Darnold went 14–3 and passed for over 4,300 yards and 35 TDs with Minnesota in 2024; he parlayed that success into a three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks and eventually a Super Bowl Championship in February.

Jones was added to the team midway through the 2024 season and backed up Darnold. He signed a one-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts in 2025 and led them to an 8–5 record as starter—completing 261 of 384 passes for 3,101 yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight picks—before a fractured fibula and a torn Achilles ended his season.

Besides McCarthy, Murray, and Wentz—drafted second overall by the Eagles in 2016—the Vikings also have second-year pro Max Brosmer on the roster. Brosmer impressed during the preseason and won a roster spot, but in two starts in relief of McCarthy, he also struggled. Brosmer threw four interceptions in a loss to the Seahawks and threw for just 57 yards in the Vikings’ Week 18 win against the faltering Green Bay Packers. He finished his rookie season 1–1 as a starter, completing 47 of 71 passes for 328 yards and the aforementioned four interceptions.