J.J. McCarthy has officially gone from a first-round draft pick to a third-stringer. The Minnesota Vikings' quarterback, who lost a battle for the starting job with free-agent addition Kyler Murray, will be buried on the team's depth chart when it takes on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell announced that Carson Wentz will serve as Murray's backup and McCarthy will stand in as the team's No. 3 quarterback. He added that who fills the spot at backup will be a week-to-week situation.
"Carson, he's got almost 100 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 kinda what you need to do as a backup quarterback, especially early on when so much of the emphasis is gonna be on getting Kyler as comfortable as we can possibly get him," O'Connell said. "But J.J., he's still gonna get a bunch of great work, as Carson will, giving our defense a look.
"And then there's time before, there's time after (for) the development of a player that I'm just really excited to get a chance to continue to work with."
Is it time for J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings to part ways?
The fact that the Vikings felt the need to add Murray — a former No. 1 overall draft pick who started 87 games for the Arizona Cardinals — signaled the beginning of the end for McCarthy in the first place.
McCarthy started 10 games for the Vikings a season ago — a perfect chance to cement himself as their guy going forward — but threw 12 interceptions compared to 11 touchdowns. His ability to process opposing defenses was lacking and led to him being sacked 27 times.
Now to be passed up by Wentz, who suited up for five teams in as many seasons before arriving in Minnesota in 2025, shows that the Vikings aren't very keen on what the former Michigan standout brings to the table.
O'Connell added that he felt the decision gives his team the best chance to win against the Packers. From what else O'Connell said about the situation, it was painted as if the choice is to give McCarthy some room to grow without pressure, but to strip things down for someone who was taken No. 10 overall just two years ago shows where things are headed.
Wentz, a former No. 2 overall draft pick, is an 11th-year pro who was one of the faces of the Philadelphia Eagles during his time with them, finishing third in Associated Press NFL MVP voting in 2017, a campaign that was shortened by a torn ACL. He bounced around between Indianapolis, Washington, the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City after the Eagles opted to move forward with Jalen Hurts.
With a seasoned understudy behind Murray, O'Connell and the Vikings would probably be best served to give McCarthy a fresh start elsewhere, if even to avoid an awkward dynamic in the room.
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