The Minnesota Vikings benched JJ McCarthy for Week 7, and named Carson Wentz as their starting quarterback. According to NFL insider Ben Devine, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell used McCarthy’s injury as an excuse, and benched him due to poor form.
On Friday, O’Connell claimed that McCarthy would be the emergency third-string quarterback behind Wentz and Max Brosmer. “I thought (Carson) had a good week of practice as well as JJ,” he said.
“Feel good about him being available but he will be the emergency third quarterback. We went into the last game with two (QBs) and didn’t quite feel like that was the smartest thing to do- and feel good about where he’d be at if he had to play in that third quarterback capacity.”
Ahead of facing his former team, the Eagles, Wentz said, “Earlier in my career, maybe I had a different feeling. But at the same time, you look over there and it’s, I’m not even sure if there’s anybody on the defensive side that I played with. You know, it just looks different.”
“So, it’s another opponent. A lot of respect for those guys. … There’s still a lot of good people that I have a lot of care for and respect for. But at the same time, that feels like multiple lifetimes ago,” he added.