Carson Wentz will start at quarterback for the Vikings in Sunday’s game against the Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium, Kevin O’Connell announced on Friday afternoon.
J.J. McCarthy returned to practice this week for the first time since suffering a high ankle sprain in Week 2, but he was listed as a limited participant and admitted on Wednesday that his ankle wasn’t back to 100 percent yet. That answer seemed to indicate that Wentz making a fourth consecutive start was the most likely outcome.
The next potential opportunity for McCarthy to return to the starting role would be next Thursday against the Chargers, but it might not make sense for the 22-year-old’s first game back to come on a short week. If he misses that game, too, he’d have plenty of time to get to 100 percent for a Week 9 clash with the Lions. The question then would be whether or not Wentz can do enough over the next game or two to make it hard for the Vikings to take him off the field.
McCarthy is listed as questionable with his ankle injury, but O’Connell said he’ll be the Vikings’ emergency No. 3 quarterback for Sunday’s game. Rookie Max Brosmer will remain the backup.
Wentz came out of Minnesota’s Week 5 win over the Browns dealing with a painful injury to his non-throwing shoulder, but he was able to practice in full this week and is good to go.
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His fourth start in a Vikings uniform — and his second in Minneapolis — will come against the team that drafted him second overall in 2016. Wentz spent five seasons with the Eagles and finished third in MVP voting in 2017, the year where he got hurt and Nick Foles led them to a Super Bowl win at the same stadium where the two teams will play this weekend. Wentz’s time in Philly ended in rocky fashion, and he was traded to the Colts after the 2020 season to clear a path for Jalen Hurts, who has led the Eagles to two Super Bowl appearances and one win in the last four years.
Wentz, who is on his sixth team in the last six seasons, previously played against the Eagles in 2022 as a member of the Commanders. The Eagles won that game 24-8. Wentz said this week that facing Philadephia doesn’t have much significance for him at this point in his career.
“Not really,” he said. “Maybe earlier in my career, maybe it had a different feeling. You look over there and I’m not even sure there’s anybody on the defensive side that I played with. It just looks different. So it’s another opponent. A lot of respect for those guys. There’s still guys in that organization, there’s a lot of good people that I still have a lot of care for and respect for. But at the same time, that feels like multiple lifetimes ago at this point.”
Signed in August to be McCarthy’s backup, Wentz has gone 2-1 as the Vikings’ starter. He’s thrown for 759 yards with five touchdowns and two deflected interceptions. Wentz has fed Justin Jefferson for over 120 receiving yards in two consecutive games and threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Jordan Addison to beat the Browns in London before the Vikings’ recent bye week.
Now he’ll look to get a win against his old team, who have looked vulnerable on defense so far this season. It’s a 12 p.m. CT kickoff for the 3-2 Vikings and the 4-2 Eagles on Sunday.
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