The Minnesota Vikings have at least one quarterback spot settled, but the backup situation is still up in the air.
After head coach Kevin O’Connell named free-agent signing Kyler Murray the team’s Week 1 starter, attention quickly shifted to the fight behind him. For a stretch, there were whispers that veteran Carson Wentz might open the regular season as Minnesota’s primary backup instead of 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy.
For now, O’Connell says McCarthy will go into Saturday’s preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens as the Vikings’ QB2.
"We want Carson feeling like he can do the things consistently that he can do, and that we know exactly who and what he is," O’Connell said about that decision, per Steve Hoikkala of Heavy. "And we want J.J. feeling like, 'I’m one snap away, so I’ve got to prepare like I’m the starter anyway.' It’s easy to say those things, but we wanted to have a room that forced it."
That doesn’t mean the backup job is locked down. O’Connell stopped short of making any final declaration on who will sit behind Murray in Week 1.
"We’ll see how these next couple of weeks play out, and we’re going to do what’s best for our team, and proud of the way J.J.’s handled the last few days," O’Connell added during his comments.
The Vikings are still trying to keep McCarthy moving forward as a developmental piece, and there’s no indication O’Connell is wavering on Murray at the top of the depth chart. Recent practices have included some center-quarterback exchange issues involving Murray and Blake Brandel, but that hasn’t changed the bigger picture.
Because a QB2 doesn’t need the same kind of summer work with a specific slice of the offense that a starter does, O’Connell could keep the McCarthy-Wentz competition alive all the way through Minnesota’s preseason finale at the Denver Broncos on Aug. 28.
At minimum, the uncertainty says plenty about how much McCarthy’s stock has slipped since the spring of 2024 draft.
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