The Carson Wentz revenge game is officially happening.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell announced that Wentz will start on Sunday against the Eagles, his former team. The Eagles traded up to draft Wentz with the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft with the hopes that he would be their long-term franchise quarterback.
It didn’t quite work out that way. Wentz struggled as a rookie before a breakout 2017 season that was cut short by an ACL tear. The Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl with Nick Foles under center. Injuries remained an issue for Wentz, though the team still signed him to a four-year, $108MM extension in 2019. By the end of the next season, he was benched for Jalen Hurts, and during the offseason, he was traded to the Colts. That kicked off a series of one-year stints with the Commanders, Rams, and Chiefs before signing with the Vikings this offseason.
O’Connell has repeatedly made it clear that J.J. McCarthy will be the Vikings’ starting quarterback when he’s fully healthy, but that has not been the case for weeks. Wentz started the last two games, and though he picked up a shoulder injury last week, he will be under center once again on Sunday.
McCarthy has still been limited in practice this week as he works his way back from an ankle injury, but O’Connell said that the second-year quarterback will be active as the Vikings’ emergency third quarterback in Week 7, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. Max Brosmer will still be the team’s primary backup, but O’Connell indicated that he was comfortable with McCarthy taking the field in an emergency.
To my thinking, Wentz had what would be considered a revenge game against the Eagles Sept. 25 2022 when he was with Washington. That was the first time he played his former team after being dumped. Eagles won 24-8. Hurts had a 123.5 passer rating compared to Wentz’s 71.0 rating… so I doubt Philadelphia has a lot of regrets about the QB change.
KOC hasn’t been clear about McCarthy’s role at all. All he has said is he won’t be an option to start until he’s fully healthy, but he’s gone out of his way to NOT say McCarthy is the starter when healthy. He’s been very non committal.
If Wentz beats Philly, there’s no way McCarthy is starting in week 8 if he’s healthy or not. McCarthy looked terrible his two starts, Wentz has at least been serviceable.
Only the Jets rank worse in pass protection so until the OL play gets better, whoever gets behind center is going to be constantly harassed.