The Vikings are walking into training camp with the quarterback room already crowded, and Max Brosmer is the name that could quietly complicate everything.
Most of the attention is going to land on J.J. McCarthy and Kyler Murray as they battle for the starting job, with Carson Wentz also in the mix.
But Brosmer’s place in the picture is worth watching too. The undrafted free agent out of the University of Minnesota was last year’s camp standout and managed to hang onto a roster spot at the 11th hour.
Even after a pair of rough outings once he was forced into action, The Athletic’s Alec Lewis reported that Minnesota’s view of him hasn’t changed.
“Optimism for Brosmer persists. The Vikings wished he didn’t have to play during his rookie season, but circumstances thrust him into the spotlight. Release him, and opposing teams will have interest.”
That’s where the problem starts. The Vikings may want to keep him, but carrying four quarterbacks is a tough sell. Brosmer could land on the practice squad, though that would mean clearing waivers first - and Lewis noted that “multiple teams” would have a chance to go after him.
So someone would have to move. And with Wentz likely sticking around, that could push the loser of the McCarthy-Murray competition into a last-minute trade.
That would be a strange way to build a quarterback room around an undrafted player who, at this point, probably shouldn’t be the one forcing the issue.
Still, it’s easy to see why Minnesota likes Brosmer. He’s 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds, with the kind of size and arm strength that brings Sam Darnold to mind, and Kevin O’Connell praised his processing last summer, calling Brosmer “as smart as any young player I’ve been around” during training camp.
There’s also a fair case that Brosmer was set up to fail as a rookie. His first start came on the road against a Seattle Seahawks defense that picked him off four times and later won the Super Bowl a few months after that game. His second start came against a Detroit Lions defense that was relentless, holding him to 51 passing yards and sacking him seven times.
In a perfect setup, Brosmer would have spent that time developing without being thrown into the fire. The Vikings would probably love to do the same thing this year and stash him behind Murray, McCarthy and Wentz. But recent history suggests they can only shield him so much.
Over O’Connell’s four seasons as head coach, Minnesota has already been down to its third-string quarterback twice, in 2023 and 2025. McCarthy and Murray aren’t exactly ironmen, either, and it wouldn’t be shocking if one or both missed time in 2026.
Wentz gives the Vikings a veteran option, but he wasn’t exactly lighting it up before his season ended with a shoulder injury. In five starts, he completed 65.1 percent of his passes for 1,216 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions.
That’s the reality of a 17-game season: teams usually need more than one quarterback to survive it. Which is why the idea of trading McCarthy or Murray just to preserve Brosmer would be a bizarre one.
Maybe camp brings some real growth for Brosmer. Maybe not. He turned 25 in March, and the ceiling question is fair.
It would also help if his rookie tape had shown more than a meme-worthy interception and getting piledriven into the turf on Christmas Day. Instead, Minnesota may simply be trying to develop the next Sean Mannion - a player fans once wondered why he was on the roster before eventually becoming the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles.
If that’s the plan, the Vikings have to decide what matters more: squeezing value out of an undrafted quarterback in hopes of uncovering another coaching branch for O’Connell, or keeping the kind of depth that can matter when the season turns into the usual hunt for 10 wins and “a shot in the tournament?”
Brosmer is unlikely to suddenly become Darnold overnight, and it’s hard to see him emerging from this battle as the surprise starter in 2027. He may not even be the backup next season based on what he showed a year ago.
But that still doesn’t justify a rash move involving a former No. 1 overall pick or the highest-drafted quarterback in franchise history unless O’Connell and his staff truly see it differently.
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