The Minnesota Vikings moved quickly from considering JJ McCarthy for the starting QB role against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1 to essentially not considering him at all.
Kyler Murray won the starting job over McCarthy in early August, then got hurt 11 offensive plays into his Vikings debut. He was back at practice on Wednesday in a limited capacity, indicating that he is about halfway through the five-step concussion protocol.
If Murray can’t go on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, which remains the most likely outcome based on historical evidence of concussions in the NFL during the protocol era, Carson Wentz is essentially a lock to start. Wentz bested McCarthy for the QB2 spot ahead of Week 1 and threw for three touchdowns in a comeback win while replacing Murray on Sunday.
On Wednesday, September 16, ESPN’s Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler authored a medium dive into the Vikings’ quarterback situation four days ahead of their Week 2 showdown in the Windy City, which could decide the early leader of the NFC North Division if the Detroit Lions can’t go on the road and best the Buffalo Bills on a short week during the 2026 debut of Thursday Night Football.
And what Graziano and Fowler had to say about McCarthy and his place in the pecking order offered fairly obvious insight that the former No. 10 pick in the 2024 draft has likely played his last snap for the Vikings.
JJ McCarthy Not Part of Vikings’ Starting QB Considerations Ahead of Bears Game
Graziano started off the discussion Wednesday.
“Based on what I’ve been able to gather, my sense is that Kyler Murray will start if he clears concussion protocol in time, and Carson Wentz is likely to start if Murray isn’t clear in time,” Graziano wrote. “That sounds like a negative toward JJ McCarthy, since it was him and not Wentz who competed with Murray for the starting job in camp.”
Fowler added that if Wentz plays against Chicago, he’s likely to deliver a similarly solid performance as he did in Week 1.
“It’s tough to know Murray’s timeline at this point,” Fowler added. “Wentz is set up for success in Week 2. He got hot last week versus Green Bay, and Chicago just allowed 361 passing yards to Bryce Young.”
JJ McCarthy Absent Path to QB1 or QB2 Outside of Injury
With Murray working his way back and Wentz establishing himself as the veteran player the Vikings want to lean on if/when Murray can’t go, there doesn’t seem like a fit for McCarthy on the roster moving forward.
Max Brosmer remains on the practice squad and can be a serviceable emergency QB3 if necessary.
Meanwhile, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport told the “Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday that the Vikings remain interested in seeing what the offense can be with Murray’s skill set once he is healthy.
“I think with Kyler … everyone was looking forward to seeing the different dimensions this offense can have with a really dynamic quarterback who could move to throw,” Rapoport said. “I’d be surprised if [Wentz] was their starting quarterback. Kyler is gonna come back, and I would expect it to be him.”
All of this equates to McCarthy having little to no path to playing his way into even the backup role, let alone the starting job, ahead of the league’s November 10 trade deadline — save for two simultaneous injuries to Murray and Wentz. And with four QBs still on the roster including Brosmer, there is little point in Minnesota holding onto McCarthy all season long.
If the Vikings were to deal McCarthy to a QB-needy team at some point over the next several weeks, they would be doing so at his all-time low trade value. But that value won’t increase if McCarthy doesn’t get to play between now and whenever an agreement might be struck.
Even if McCarthy remains in Minnesota all season, it appears quite likely that his time as the starter will number the 10 games he ran out in 2025, and that will be it.
Vikings Send Obvious Signal JJ McCarthy Era Over in Minnesota