J.J. McCarthy may still start Friday night in Denver, but the Vikings’ backup quarterback conversation has changed around him.
McCarthy did not practice Wednesday after suffering a deltoid sprain in his ankle during Saturday’s preseason game against Baltimore. Kevin O’Connell said the quarterback received a rest day in hopes of putting the injury behind him and still getting him the “really important reps” Minnesota had planned for the preseason finale.
Carson Wentz is expected to play. Max Brosmer remains part of the evaluation, too.
The simple version is that McCarthy has an ankle injury and could miss a preseason game. The more complicated version is that a young quarterback who desperately needs repetitions is once again spending time trying to get healthy instead.
That matters.
The reps McCarthy needs
O’Connell has made clear that he still wants McCarthy to play Friday if the ankle allows it.
“I still think these reps are important for him,” O’Connell said Tuesday. “To go out there and move the ball, move the team and put the ball in the end zone. That’s the goal.”
That is not empty coach-speak. McCarthy needs exactly that kind of work.
His first two preseason games have followed a frustratingly familiar script. There have been flashes, including a 50-yard bomb to Tai Felton against Baltimore. There have also been the same issues that followed him during the 2025 season: late decisions, missed routine throws and too many moments when a play that should be easy becomes difficult.
The Ravens game offered the clearest example. McCarthy escaped pressure and gave Felton a chance on the deep ball, then guided the offense to the goal line. Two plays later, he overthrew a wide-open Myles Price on fourth down. Minnesota turned the ball over on downs.
Those are the plays that determine whether an offense scores.
McCarthy knows that. He called the two red-zone misses “throws I got to make.” But acknowledging them and eliminating them are different things. The only way to close that gap is through live repetitions, where the speed, pressure and consequences are real. That is why the ankle is more than an inconvenience.
Injuries are becoming part of the story
McCarthy is still only 23. He is also entering his third NFL season, and his developmental timetable has already been affected by health issues.
He has dealt with injuries that have limited opportunities to stack practice work, preseason work and regular-season evidence. Saturday added another interruption. McCarthy took several hits against Baltimore, left after the first quarter and did not return even though the Vikings initially hoped to give him another series.
O’Connell described the latest issue as a deltoid sprain, not the high-ankle injury that plagued him last year. That is encouraging. McCarthy practiced Monday and Tuesday before receiving Wednesday off, and the Vikings remain hopeful he can play against Denver.
Still, the larger concern is difficult to ignore.
Young quarterbacks need volume. They need the bad throws, the corrections, the next drives and the confidence that comes from seeing a mistake disappear on the following snap. McCarthy has not been able to accumulate enough of that momentum throughout his career. Every injury, even a minor one, becomes more consequential when the player is already fighting to establish consistency.
Friday could be a chance to change that. Or it could become another missed opportunity.
Wentz has made the decision harder
This is not only about McCarthy.
Wentz has not been flawless in the preseason, and he has not played behind the same quality of offensive line or with the same group of skill players on every drive. But he has generally looked steadier. He has moved the offense, handled pressure and avoided the kind of routine mistakes that have repeatedly hurt McCarthy.
That raises a legitimate question: Should Wentz be Kyler Murray’s primary backup when the Vikings open against Green Bay?
O’Connell has not answered it publicly. He said the staff will continue to assess what is best for the team and emphasized that every quarterback needs opportunities. Brosmer, who has quietly handled the difficult reality of limited backup reps, remains part of that equation as well.
But there is no need to pretend the competition is settled.
McCarthy entered camp as the presumed QB2 after losing the starting job to Murray. Wentz’s preseason performance, combined with McCarthy’s inconsistency and new ankle injury, has made the depth chart less certain.
QB3 is now a plausible short-term outcome for McCarthy if Wentz proves to be the more reliable option entering September.
That would be disappointing. It would not be the end of the story.
The future is not guaranteed
The noise around McCarthy has gone even further.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio recently raised the possibility that Minnesota could release McCarthy. That remains unlikely. Teams do not casually move on from a 23-year-old former top-10 pick, particularly one still on an affordable rookie contract.
But the NFL does not always operate according to the expected script.
If Wentz wins the backup job and McCarthy spends the season as QB3, the Vikings would eventually have to decide what his place in the organization really is. They could continue investing in his development. They could explore a trade. Or, if the situation deteriorated further, they could make a more dramatic decision.
A trade is the more realistic alternative to an outright release, but McCarthy’s current value is limited. He has not shown enough sustained improvement to command anything close to the price Minnesota paid to draft him. A team would be acquiring a young quarterback with pedigree and physical talent, but also one with a thin résumé, recurring injury concerns and familiar problems with accuracy and processing.
That is why Friday matters beyond the QB2 competition.
McCarthy does not need to prove he is a finished product. He does need to show the Vikings that the player they drafted is still moving forward. So far, the evidence has been too uneven to make that assumption automatic.
A difficult but necessary moment
Wentz understands the human side of the situation.
As the oldest quarterback in the room, he has experienced injuries, public criticism and career turns that did not go as planned. Asked about McCarthy this week, Wentz said he would encourage the young quarterback not to let the last few weeks define the rest of his story.
“That’s the thing,” Wentz said. “He’s so young and still has a bright future.”
That can be true while the Vikings make a difficult short-term decision.
McCarthy does not have to prove Friday that he is ready to become the franchise quarterback. Murray already owns that job. He does not have to erase every concern in one preseason game.
But he does need to show that he can operate the offense, make the simple throws and give the Vikings confidence that his development is moving forward.
The ankle may determine whether he gets that chance.
And if he does, the stakes are higher than they were a week ago.
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