J.J. McCarthy’s path in Minnesota has taken another sharp turn.
Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said Wednesday afternoon that the former Michigan quarterback has been moved to third string heading into Sunday’s Week 1 matchup with the Green Bay Packers. McCarthy will now sit behind Carson Wentz, who is listed as the backup behind starting quarterback Kyler Murray.
O'Connell said the team will keep sorting through McCarthy and Wentz as the season moves along, with the quarterback situation being handled on a week-to-week basis.
"Carson, he’s got almost 100 career starts. What he did last year, with very limited reps, was apply a career's worth of experience.
That’s kinda what you need to do as a backup quarterback," O'Connell told reporters. "J.J., he is still going to get a bunch of great work. ...
I'm really excited to have the chance to continue working with him."
Murray’s arrival in Minnesota in March, after seven seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, immediately changed the conversation around McCarthy and his long-term place with the team. A training camp battle followed, and McCarthy lost the starting job.
That leaves a lot of uncertainty around a player the Vikings took with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft after he helped Michigan win the 2023 National Championship title.
McCarthy went 6-4 in his only season as Minnesota’s starter in 2025, throwing for 1,632 yards with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He flashed at times, but his early NFL career has been slowed badly by injuries.
He missed five straight games last season with a high ankle sprain, then sat out more time because of a concussion and a hairline fracture in his throwing hand. His rookie year in 2024 never got off the ground, either, after a torn meniscus kept him out for the entire season.
"I want to make this week-to-week, so when we feel like we need to declare something different, we can," O'Connell said. "This gives us the best chance to win this Sunday, based on how the game goes."
In Other News...
Which Tigers Free Agent Fits Scott Harris Would Actually Chase
The Tigers have plenty of moving parts this winter, but the biggest question around the roster is whether Scott Harris and his staff will actually step into the free-agent market in a meaningful way. MLB.coms Mark Feinsand laid out a range of possible targets across second base, the outfield, the rotation and the bullpen, which lines up with Detroits clear needs and the way the front office has tried to balance upgrades with financial caution. There is obvious room to improve, but not every gap carries the same urgency, and not every fit is likely to be chased with the same level of conviction.
What stands out most is how much the bullpen seems to linger as the most obvious place for Detroit to look, especially after recent trades and other roster considerations have reshaped the picture. Offense remains part of the conversation, but there is still skepticism that the Tigers are ready to make a major swing there, which keeps the focus on more practical additions and on which names the club would actually be willing to pursue. For now, the list of possibilities is long, but the real tell will be which of those options the Tigers treat as more than background noise. [Read more 🡒]
River Ryan Just Gave Tigers Fans A New 2027 Rotation Debate
River Ryans latest step back onto the mound offered a reminder of why so many around the Tigers are keeping an eye on his recovery. In a rehab start for the Mud Hens, he worked two scoreless innings, struck out two and allowed two hits, while his fastball sat in the upper 90s and touched 98.2 MPH. For a club always thinking ahead on pitching depth, that is the kind of update that naturally gets attention.
Detroit still views Ryan as a candidate to return to the major league rotation, with 2027 the broad target in mind, even if the exact role is far from settled. The bigger question is how he fits into a rotation that is still taking shape, and whether this rehab path is the beginning of a straightforward climb back or just the first clue in a longer roster puzzle. [Read more 🡒]
Tigers Fans Just Got An Early Look At A Crucial Pitching Piece
River Ryans first start for Triple-A Toledo on Sept. 9 gave Tigers fans an early glimpse of one of the more intriguing pieces to come back in the Tarik Skubal trade. The right-hander worked two scoreless innings, allowed two hits and struck out the first two batters he faced, a tidy introduction for a pitcher Detroit views as a significant arm for the future.
Ryan arrives with plenty of promise and plenty of baggage, too, given his injury history and past surgery. Even so, he is now the top-ranked pitching prospect in the Tigers system, which makes every outing at Toledo worth watching closely as Detroit evaluates what it has in a trade return that could matter for a while. [Read more 🡒]