Minnesota Vikings News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Sep 14, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) takes the field before the game against Atlanta Falcons at U.S. Bank Stadium. Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Vikings QB updates from KOC: McCarthy, Wentz, backup vs. Bengals

Originally posted on Minnesota Vikings on SI
By Will Ragatz | Last updated Sep 17, 2025 3:24 PM ET

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell provided some updates on the team's quarterback situation during his Wednesday press conference ahead of a Week 3 game against the Bengals.

J.J. McCarthy is hurt again, having suffered a high-ankle sprain in Sunday night's loss to the Falcons. The Vikings will be without their 22-year-old starter for at least a couple weeks and very possibly through their Week 6 bye (that's informed speculation, not O'Connell's words).

"He's responding well, early on, to treatment and things," O'Connell said of McCarthy, two days after evaluation revealed the injury on Monday morning. "He's in a boot and kind of letting that thing settle down when he's not getting treatment.

"Still heavily involved in meetings and installs and everything, had great energy and enthusiasm to attack it any way he can for now," he added. "And that'll be able to build and progress from there. He's still in the early stages of it. From a standpoint of some of the things we were hoping, early on, we've seen some of that and it'll continue, hopefully."

The Vikings' starter for this Sunday's game — against a 2-0 Cincinnati team that also lost its starting quarterback in Week 2 — is Carson Wentz, who they signed on August 24 to be their backup after trading Sam Howell to the Eagles. They've liked what they've seen from Wentz over the past 3.5 weeks since he arrived, including when he took the QB1 reins in a practice last Thursday while McCarthy was at the hospital for the birth of his first child.

Wentz, 32, has started 95 games in the NFL, although only two of those have come over the past two seasons. He's a physically-imposing QB who has a lot of experience and has been in Minnesota long enough that he should have no major limitations from a playbook standpoint this week and beyond.

"Excited for Carson to get a full week of preparation," O'Connell said. "I was telling the team today, you've got a guy that's played at a really high level, played a lot of football, and ultimately is at a place in his career where I think you can really tap into a lot of that while also shaping a game plan that he's comfortable with and he can go out and have consistent success."

McCarthy isn't going on short-term injured reserve, but the Vikings still needed a third healthy quarterback, which is why they signed former Falcons starter Desmond Ridder on Tuesday. Despite Ridder having more NFL experience, O'Connell said rookie Max Brosmer will be the backup behind Wentz on Sunday. That puts the undrafted former Gopher one snap away from his NFL debut. Ridder will be the emergency No. 3.

"With the rules being what they are with the emergency third quarterback, we wanted to have one," O'Connell said. "Based upon the early aspect of our season, we're pretty deep into some position groupings as it is. We wanted to make sure we could get a guy that's played before. Desmond had a great workout. ... If we get to that scenario, we felt like it would be good to have a veteran guy that's still young and growing as a player, but can step in and execute if called upon."

Brosmer has done nothing but impress since the Vikings signed him after the draft in April. He's drawn rave reviews for his mental acumen and how quickly he developed a complete command of their offense. He also looked the part in the preseason, even if it was against low-level competition.

"The way Max has been preparing, being two snaps away, will probably only be enhanced," O'Connell said. "There's probably not much more room he can grow from a preparation standpoint, other than the physical reps that would come with it."

This article first appeared on Minnesota Vikings on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: