Carson Wentz has moved ahead of J.J. McCarthy on the Vikings’ quarterback depth chart, with Kevin O’Connell naming Wentz the No. 2 option for Sunday’s regular-season opener against the Packers and McCarthy sliding to No. 3.
O’Connell said the decision came down to experience, while stressing that McCarthy will still get work as the team keeps developing him.
“I’m looking at that right now as a week-to-week thing, and Carson has almost 100 career starts,” O’Connell said. “J.J. is still going to get a bunch of great work. . . . This gives us the best chance to win this Sunday.”
The move leaves McCarthy in a steep fall from where the Vikings once envisioned him. Taken 10th overall in the 2024 NFL draft, he was supposed to be the quarterback of the future. Instead, he missed his entire rookie season because of a knee injury and then struggled when he finally got a chance to start in 2025.
That’s how he ends up opening 2026 buried on the depth chart, with Wentz now ahead of him and the Vikings leaning on the veteran’s track record for the opener. McCarthy’s four-year, $21.8 million rookie deal is guaranteed, which is the main reason he remains on the roster.
For now, the organization is still saying the right things about development. But after losing the quarterback competition to Wentz for the No. 2 job, McCarthy’s place in Minnesota looks awfully shaky. It’s entirely possible he has already played his last game as a Viking.
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The move adds another layer to an offseason that has already brought questions around McCarthys ankle injury and the chatter about his future in Minnesota. Even with the opener still ahead, the Vikings have made it clear their depth chart is not set in the way many expected, and McCarthy now has more to prove before he can climb back into the conversation. [Read more 🡒]