Carson Wentz is Vikings' No. 2 quarterback, J.J. McCarthy is No. 3

Published September 9, 2026 02:48 PM J.J. McCarthy has fallen from the Vikings’ franchise quarterback of the future to a third-stringer.Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell announced today that Carson Wentz will be the No. 2 quarterback in Sunday’s regular-season opener against the Packers. McCarthy is No. 3 on the depth chart.O’Connell suggested that Wentz’s experience makes him the better backup right now, but insisted that the Vikings will continue to work on developing McCarthy.“I’m looking at that right now as a week-to-week thing, and Carson has almost 100 career starts,” O’Connell said. “J.J. is still going to get a bunch of great work. . . . This gives us the best chance to win this Sunday.”Kyler Murray was named the starter a month ago after winning a quarterback competition with McCarthy that never seemed like much of a competition. Now that McCarthy hasn’t even beaten out Wentz for the competition to be No. 2, it’s safe to say the Vikings are ready to move on from McCarthy, despite O’Connell’s insistence that McCarthy is still going to get great work. McCarthy’s four-year, $21.8 million rookie contract is guaranteed, so that’s the primary reason the Vikings are keeping him. The Vikings took McCarthy with the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft and hoped he would be their quarterback for many years to come. Instead, he missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury and then did not play well when given the opportunity to start in 2025.Now McCarthy is opening 2026 buried on the depth chart. It’s entirely possible that he has played his last game as a Viking.