Vikings Make QB Decision Official
Coming out of the bye week, many have debated who the Minnesota Vikings should start at quarterback this weekend.
J.J. McCarthy has been sidelined for the past three games due to a high ankle sprain, but Carson Wentz also came out of Week 5 banged up with a left shoulder injury.
Now, though, Kevin O’Connell has made the starting QB decision for Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles official.
Verdict Is in for Vikings’ Starting QB
Kevin O’Connell announced on Friday that Carson Wentz will indeed be the starting quarterback on Sunday as he gets a “revenge game” against the team that drafted him back in 2016.
“Carson Wentz will start the football game, thought he’s had a good week of practice,” O’Connell said at a press conference Friday afternoon.
However, the stage for a McCarthy return at some point this season has been set as O’Connell also mentioned that he will be the emergency QB3 this week as he continues to work through his rehab.
“I was really proud of the work [McCarthy] put in as he kinda continues to push through the later stages of his rehab. Feel good about him being available, but he will be the emergency third quarterback. We went into the last game with two and didn’t quite feel like that was the smartest thing to do and feel good where he’d be at if he had to play in that third quarterback capacity,” O’Connell explained.
That means Max Brosmer, the undrafted rookie out of Minnesota, will be the backup behind Wentz for another week.
The decision makes sense and became expected as the week wore on. Wentz was able to practice in full capacity both Wednesday and Thursday while McCarthy was a limited participant throughout the week.
On top of the health of the two quarterbacks, the Vikings have no easy task ahead of them as they take on the defending champion Eagles, so at less than 100%, throwing McCarthy into the starting lineup may do more harm than good for the young QB.
Now, though, the question becomes: when do we see McCarthy re-enter that QB1 role this season? After this week, the Vikings will head onto the road for back-to-back games with matchups against Los Angeles Rams next Thursday and then a game against the defending NFC North champion Detroit Lions.
The QB situation has been decided for now, but certainly, there will be more questions in the weeks to come.
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