J.J. McCarthy is no longer the quarterback of the future for the Minnesota Vikings. He also isn’t the backup quarterback. Head coach Kevin O’Connell announced Wednesday, four days before the start of the regular season, that Carson Wentz would serve as his backup passer in Week 1 to Kyler Murray.
So, after all that, the unthinkable has happened to McCarthy – – a complete and utter demotion.
McCarthy Is Suddenly the Vikings’ QB3
Carson Wentz Makes the Fringe Theory Official
NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport tweeted Wednesday, some hours before the NFL regular season got underway between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, “Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell tells reporters that QB Carson Wentz is the backup to Kyler Murray and that JJ McCarthy is the third-stringer. It will be a week-to-week evaluation.”
O’Connell told reporters, “Carson has got almost a hundred career starts. What he was able to do last year from a standpoint of very limited repetition, but being able to apply a career’s worth of experience, that’s kind of what you need to do as a backup quarterback, especially early on when so much of the emphasis is going to be on getting Kyler as comfortable as we can possibly get.”
There is no other way to dress it up: this is damning for McCarthy.
The reasoning is also brutally practical. Wentz has 99 career starts and already handled emergency duty for Minnesota last season. McCarthy has 10 starts and still looks like a developmental quarterback who might’ve regressed this offseason, when fans waited months to see his improvement.
It’s also why re-signing Wentz in March was more consequential than it seemed. Minnesota wanted an experienced fallback if Murray won the job. Now, the Vikings have decided McCarthy can’t even be that fallback in Week 1.
The fringe “McCarthy could end up as the QB3” theory is officially etched on the depth chart, and that’s a rough plot twist for a quarterback drafted 10th overall 28 months ago.
“Week to Week” Sounds Like Diplomatic Coach Speak
O’Connell’s verbiage sounds like a politician who knows the inevitable but can’t state it plainly: McCarthy won’t see the light of day as QB1 unless there’s a total emergency. For example, why on earth would O’Connell suddenly make McCarthy the QB2 in Week 2?
Technically, McCarthy could reclaim the backup job next week. Nothing prevents it. But what’s he going to do? Mature more than Wentz in seven days?
Overall, Minnesota has spent the summer moving the other direction. Murray won QB1 in August. Wentz has now won QB2 in September. Reversing that order would require McCarthy to show the staff something it has not seen lately.
The phrase “week to week” also protects everyone involved. O’Connell avoids announcing a season-long demotion. McCarthy gets a public path back and saves face in a very minor way. Wentz can prepare without a proclamation about his status.
Still, Week 1 carries weight. The Vikings are telling everyone which quarterback they trust if Murray leaves Sunday’s game. For now, that answer is Wentz. The “week-to-week” caveat feels like it’s in play just to soften the blow.
McCarthy Goes from QBOTF to Backup to the Backup
The Vikings – – not long ago – – built the future around McCarthy. That future has been postponed so many times that he is now the backup to the backup. Hell, they even kicked Sam Darnold off the roster to accommodate McCarthy.
A torn meniscus erased McCarthy’s rookie season. He started 10 games in 2025 and ranked 36th among 40 quarterbacks in ESPN’s Total QBR. The Vikings responded by signing Murray and elevating him a few months later while backseating McCarthy as the QB3.
The sequence is astonishing for a 23-year-old once classified as the Vikings’ savior. McCarthy can, of course, recover. Quarterback careers take strange turns, and Minnesota keeps stressing his development.
But the current reality is downright ugly. Two veterans on one-year contracts stand ahead of the former first-round pick. You can put “quarterback of the future” labels on ice for McCarthy. He’s closer to tradebait than the Vikings’ QB1.
Pick Your Favorite Comp: Will Levis, Anthony Richardson, Zach Wilson, etc.
Here, you get to choose your fighter.
Zach Wilson went second overall in 2021 and lost the New York Jets’ starting job before becoming a reclamation project. Anthony Richardson went fourth overall in 2023 before Indianapolis benched him in Year 2. Will Levis lasted until pick 33 that year, then watched Tennessee draft another quarterback. Trey Lance also comes to mind and supplies an unpleasant reference point after San Francisco moved on.
McCarthy’s story is similar to each. Drafted quarterbacks are supposed to receive patience, and two and a half years into the McCarthy era, patience has evidently run out.
QB3 territory puts his career on a track nobody – – except his naysayers – – envisioned. Outwardly, he looks like another Levis, Richardson, Wilson, or Lance.
McCarthy superfans might even realize the QBOTF label has expired.
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VikesNow Verdict: McCarthy is now QB3 behind Murray and Wentz, and Minnesota must decide on his fifth-year option next spring. The former No. 10 pick has gone from QBOTF to third-stringer in barely two years.
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