The Minnesota Vikings haven’t gotten much consistency from their quarterbacks this season. J.J. McCarthy was supposed to be the new […]
The Minnesota Vikings haven’t gotten much consistency from their quarterbacks this season. J.J. McCarthy was supposed to be the new franchise leader, but an injury knocked him out after his second start. Carson Wentz, the backup, suffered an injury in his third start and ultimately lasted five games. McCarthy returned, struggled on the field, and earned himself another stint on the sideline by picking up a concussion.
The Max Brosmer Blueprint Is Right There
Because the Vikings are running out of quarterbacks, it’s Max Brosmer’s time to throw passes to Justin Jefferson. The rookie entered training camp as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart and slowly climbed up the ranks. Suddenly, he’s more than a depth player and camp arm. No, he’s the starter for the Vikings in Week 13.
Brosmer is playing with house money. He went undrafted after spending his college career at New Hampshire and (in 2024) at the University of Minnesota. The Iowa native didn’t put up a million yards at either station; he doesn’t run fast, and he doesn’t have a rocket arm.
If he’s throwing multiple passes to Seahawks defenders and the offense struggles to move the ball, nobody will be surprised. We’ll just point to the undrafted rookie label. It’s expected. He has nothing to lose.
But there’s the opposite side: What if the 24-year-old revives the offense that has struggled to complete the easiest tasks all year? The quarterback play has been so bad, folks went from praying that McCarthy doesn’t turn into Christian Ponder to praying that he does. It’s not hard to look competent for Brosmer after the recent outings. Given the praise he has gotten for his football IQ and poise, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he’s an improvement over McCarthy at this point.
The low-end outcome for Brosmer is that he looks like the undrafted rookie quarterback he is. However, the high-end upside is pretty obvious: He shares a lot of similarities with Brock Purdy, who is in his fourth year and has already gotten a huge contract extension from the 49ers.
Purdy started his career as Mr. Irrelevant. Hired to be the nonessential depth piece behind a veteran (Jimmy Garoppolo) and a young but physically gifted but oft-injured starter (Trey Lance), Purdy somehow started his first NFL game by Week 14. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Only the week is slightly off.
Once both got hurt, Purdy was thrown into the fire, and he delivered, leading his squad to the NFC Championship game. The rookie got hurt in that game, and the 49ers lost.
Since then, he has been the starter in Santa Clara.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini wrote this week:
With McCarthy out again Sunday, it’s Max Brosmer time. The undrafted rookie, making his first NFL start, has evaluators using words like calm, organized and efficient. I’m told by a scout who liked him in college at New Hampshire and Minnesota, “He’s not flashy, but neither was Brock Purdy when he first got tossed into the fire for the 49ers and won the job.”
In the preseason, Brosmer went 35 of 58 (60.3%) for 364 yards, a couple of touchdowns, and one interception. Purdy had comparable numbers in 2022. He completed 30 for 49 passes (61.2%) for 346 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Both took four sacks.
Of course, preseason performance is hardly an indication of good or poor QB play under the bright lights. Offenses and defenses use their vanilla plays, and both teams feature players who will never see an NFL field in the regular season.
In college, Purdy played four years at Iowa State. Brosmer has one season at Minnesota on his resume, and his starts at New Hampshire against lower-level competition.
Entering the season, the mantra for Vikings fans was that their team had an offensive genius calling plays with weapons all over the place and an improved offensive line and running game. McCarthy hasn’t been able to take advantage of those things. Brosmer will get the chance to do just that.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell is confident in his new starting passer, pointing to the summer when he executed the offense well in practice, followed by a look at this week’s performance in team drills: “And then to have him command the huddle the way he did this week — [I’m] not sure the ball hit the ground today, just with the efficiency at which we were operating and throwing and guys were flying around. So I think there’s confidence in Max, and like I said, I’m excited to see him as a guy that I’ve been watching behind the scenes do a lot of work and continue to just make it about the stuff that’s important.”
For Brosmer, it will undoubtedly be the biggest game of his career. He can gain everything and lose nothing.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.
