Carson Wentz’s return complicates the Vikings’ quarterback depth chart

Last week’s arrival of quarterback Kyler Murray said plenty about the top rung of Minnesota’s depth chart for 2026. Thursday’s return of quarterback Carson Wentz possibly says plenty about the second rung.

A year after the Vikings embarked on an offseason, training camp, and preseason with J.J. McCarthy, Sam Howell, and Brett Rypien, the Vikings have added not one but two players with significant starting experience who were, at one point, on track to become short-list franchise quarterbacks.

No one knows with any certainty how McCarthy will respond to Murray’s presence. It feels like the starting job is Murray’s to lose. McCarthy, however, will have to be able to take it from Murray.

The first question is whether McCarthy will embrace that fight, or whether he’ll tap out. As noted over the weekend, the Vikings had some degree of concern last year that McCarthy would ask to be traded if they had kept Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones (or if they had signed Aaron Rodgers). Although McCarthy has far less leverage after a largely lackluster showing in 2025, that doesn’t mean he’ll react well to the Vikings rolling out the purple carpet for a former No. 1 overall pick who seems to be on paper a far better option.

With Murray becoming the carrot for McCarthy, Wentz very well could be the stick. Coach Kevin O’Connell knows that, at all times, he needs to have multiple quarterbacks ready to go. If McCarthy lands on the bench behind Murray, will McCarthy remain fully committed to his craft? Or will he simply count the games until he gets a fresh start elsewhere?

Keeping Wentz for 2026 could be aimed at keeping McCarthy from checking out. It also could be part of the broader calculation to see whether the tenth overall pick in the 2024 draft will embrace his current circumstances and compete as hard as he can.

The Vikings supposedly still like Max Brosmer, his disastrous debut in Seattle notwithstanding. They likely won’t carry four quarterbacks on the 53-man roster. Cutting Brosmer would expose him to waivers, allowing another team to snatch him away from the Vikings before he could be added to the practice squad.

It’s possible, then, that one of the three veterans — Murray, McCarthy, Wentz — won’t be on the Week 1 roster.

Murray got a no-tag clause. He doesn’t have a no-trade clause. Wentz, too, becomes a possibility to be shipped to another team for a late-round pick, if the Vikings believe McCarthy has adjusted to being a backup.

Or maybe someone will make them an offer for McCarthy. If nothing else, it gives McCarthy’s head coach at Michigan a chance to put his money where his unbridled enthusiasm unknown to mankind is.

Regardless, the Vikings had seemed to be destined to roll with Murray, McCarthy, Brosmer, and a camp arm. Now, it’s more complicated. Wentz, who didn’t arrive last year until late August, went 2-3 in five starts. He played admirably, and he did a much better job of getting the ball to receiver Justin Jefferson.

At this point, everything is, or should be, on the table. And the questions about the final configuration of quarterbacks in Minnesota will begin to be answered when the time comes to show up and work.

McCarthy will be the wild card. He’s staring at a possible benching. He could slip all the way to No. 3. In theory, he ultimately could slide right out of Minnesota, with Murray, Wentz, and Brosmer being the three quarterbacks who eventually make the team.