Carson Wentz has been placed on injured reserve and will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, according to CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones. Wentz has started five games this season as the Vikings’ backup quarterback to J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy will return to the line-up for this weekend’s game with the Detroit Lions. Max Brosmer will join McCarthy in the Vikings quarterback room. Brosmer was an undrafted rookie and is now moving up to the No. On the depth chart, Brosmer is ranked No. 2. Brosmer started for the Minnesota Gophers in last year’s season and has appeared three times as a relief quarterback this season. He went 5 of 8, passing for 42 yard. According to the Vikings website, Wentz has been playing with significant pain in his non-throwing left shoulder during more than half his five starts. Wentz, the former Pro Bowl quarterback, appeared to be in pain during Minnesota’s last game. The 37-10 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers saw Wentz leaving before it was over. Wentz, a 10-year veteran, won two of his three first starts for the Vikings, while replacing McCarthy who had suffered a high ankle sprain in Minnesota’s loss to the Falcons during Week 2.
Wentz injured his shoulder during the Vikings Week 5 victory over the Browns. Wentz, despite the injury, stayed in the match and eventually led a winning drive. He went 9 of 9 with his passing, while throwing the game’s winning touchdown pass to Jordan Addison. Wentz used the Vikings Week 6 bye period to rehab the injury. He tried, but couldn’t lead the Vikings into victories against his former team the Eagles or the Chargers. Kevin O’Connell was able to convince Wentz to stay in the game last week against the Chargers, despite him being sacked and in obvious pain. McCarthy will have to do his part to turn around the Vikings season. Wentz has done his best. Minnesota is currently in last place and 3-4 in the NFC North.
Wentz is likely to be done with his Vikings career. He was brought in to provide emergency insurance. In a short period of time, he was heavily relied upon. In dire situations, he wasn’t the best choice. And he would have been a temporary Band-Aid regardless. McCarthy’s experiment has barely begun. Only a near-unblemished run could have convinced Vikings brass that they should abandon it. This is mainly due to the physical wear he has suffered behind Minnesota’s shaky defense. He may not have been the best point guard for Kevin O’Connell, but he did enough to earn another backup job elsewhere. Wentz may decide to retire from the NFL after taking such a toll on his body. He could also be blaming his own stubbornness for the shoulder injuries he sustained.
What does it mean for the Vikings? First, it highlights the cold truth that Minnesota wasn’t ready to handle such turmoil in the middle. The club has made no individual decisions regarding quarterbacks — such as letting Sam Darnold go, or not pursuing Aaron Rodgers fully. The club’s quarterback decisions were not egregious in and of themselves. Wentz became a sort-of sacrificial ram in the wake McCarthy’s lack of readiness. [Wentz was] Minnesota faces a dilemma: should it rush McCarthy back to action or turn to Max Brosmer, a rookie undrafted? Even though he joined the team just a few days ago, on August 24, Look, some quarterbacks can turn around and help a franchise stay afloat on a few days’ notice (see: Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals, at least briefly). But the Bengals had Joe Burrow as their Plan A. McCarthy was a complete unknown to the Vikings. What’s done is finished. McCarthy became the Vikings’ 2025. McCarthy was a stuttering mess out of the gates before falling down (again). It should be no surprise, a few weeks later, they’re hurting to get things under control at the quarterback position, not so unlike halfway through the 2023 season when Kirk Cousins was sidelined and O’Connell was left to squeeze what he could from Joshua Dobbs, another last-minute backup addition, and assorted leftovers.
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McCarthy’s long-awaited comeback is almost assured by Wentz’s decision to declare himself injured. The Vikings’ second-year quarterback isn’t likely to be able to make his long-awaited return in Week 9, when they travel to Detroit to face the Lions. But, then again, things haven’t really gone as planned at this position. McCarthy will get a little more leeway if he doesn’t perform well in his first couple of games back. McCarthy will also have to perform well in 2025, since the Year 2 of the rookie contract is rapidly fading. Brosmer is the name that may come to mind as the Vikings offensive savior.
2025-10-27 23:02:31
