Vikings Camp — Aug 31: McCarthy Stays on a Four-Quarterback 53

The Vikings kept four quarterbacks on their initial 53-man roster — Kyler Murray, J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer — per Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk, and the people who cover this team are treating that as a decision deferred rather than a decision made. Warren Ludford's cutdown wrap at Daily Norseman put it directly — "It's highly unlikely the Vikings will keep four quarterbacks" — and expects either a Brosmer waiver or a McCarthy trade; Josh Frey at Vikings Territory expects the same resolution in the coming days. Those are expectations, not announcements — nothing had moved as of Monday morning. What is on the record: Adam Schefter noted that McCarthy, the 2025 starter, finished cutdown day on the roster despite speculation he could be released or traded, per Tyler Forness' write-up at A to Z Sports, and Kevin O'Connell, asked Friday night whether the team could carry all four, said "I don't think it is out of the question that we try to keep all of those guys, but at the same time, we got to do what's best for our team." Asked directly about McCarthy's spot, he was vaguer — "We're going to obviously evaluate our entire depth chart now... we got to cut down our football team" — and declined to confirm McCarthy as Murray's backup, per Florio. This was the first cutdown run by Nolan Teasley, the general manager since June 1, per Rob Kleifield at the team's website, and the quarterback room is its first defining line.

Our last episode has a correction to make here. We charted McCarthy's one rough quarter against the Ravens without knowing he had hurt his ankle in that game. The injury surfaced Friday: per ESPN's Kevin Seifert, via Florio, it is not considered long-term, but McCarthy practiced limited Monday and Tuesday, sat Wednesday, and missed the finale entirely. He has also been taking third-string reps behind Murray and Wentz, which Mark Powell at FanSided writes limits whatever trade value the beat keeps discussing. So the quarterback the wider league spent the weekend treating as an asset enters September hurt, demoted, and unresolved.

The rest of the ledger, compressed. The team's website put the full accounting at 24 players waived, six waived with injuries, four vested-veteran contracts terminated, Tyler Batty to season-ending injured reserve, center Michael Jurgens to injured reserve with a designation to return, and receiver Jeshaun Jones — suspended three games last Tuesday under the league's substance-abuse policy, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk — to the reserve/suspended list, per Kleifield. Batty is the hardest loss in the pile: the outside linebacker tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the finale and is done for the year, leaving the Vikings with four healthy outside linebackers, per Eric Strack at Minnesota Sports Fan. Offensive lineman Walter Rouse was traded to New England shortly before the deadline in a late-round pick swap, first reported by Ian Rapoport, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk. Veteran defensive back Tavierre Thomas was cut despite signing an extension this offseason, a move Alec Lewis of The Athletic treated as a shock, per Vikings On SI's tracker. Running back Zavier Scott, a 2025 roster member, went out too, opening the third running back job for sixth-round rookie Demond Claiborne, per Lewis. And Bryce Phillips — the undrafted cornerback whose signing our last episode used to frame the depth response to Jamal Adams' season-ending injury — was cut a week after he arrived, in Forness' tracker. That storyline did not survive to September.

One battle resolved without any ambiguity. Johnny Hekker, the 36-year-old four-time All-Pro, was released, and the punting job belongs to Brett Thorson, an undrafted Australian rookie who won the Ray Guy Award at Georgia last season, per Florio. Frey notes Thorson averaged 47.8 yards per punt this preseason. Strack flagged Thorson and undrafted receiver Dillon Bell as the two inclusions the beat did not see coming — Bell made the 53 out of a crowded receiver room that lost Michael Briscoe, Terrill Davis, Trayvon Rudolph and Marcus Sanders Jr. to the waiver wire, per Forness.

Our last episode closed by asking what cutdown would leave behind Jay Ward at safety — a veteran addition or the rookies. The answer is the rookies. The room on the 53 is Josh Metellus, Ward, Theo Jackson and two undrafted rookie safeties, with no veteran added after the Adams injury, per Kleifield at the team's website. One of those rookies left the finale with an ankle injury — a Grade 1 sprain, per Alec Lewis of The Athletic, via Vikings Territory's tracker — and made the roster anyway; his fellow undrafted rookie Jacob Roberts, a linebacker who had spent two straight games in the good column of Forness' charting, was hurt in the same game and waived with an injury designation. And Harrison Smith moved, slightly, against our nothing-moved line from a week ago: O'Connell said Friday, per Joe Nelson at Bring Me The News, "I talked to him this week... have some conversations about where he's at, what he's thinking." Smith, 37, remains unsigned and has announced nothing.

The finale itself, briefly: the Broncos won 34-6 in Denver on Friday, and per Craig Peters at the team's website, Murray did not play — answering our other open watch item — while Wentz went 3-of-4 and Brosmer threw 35 times, completing 20, in a game Minnesota finished without a touchdown. Jason Harmon at Vikings On SI charted Brosmer missing several makeable throws, including a wide-open Dillon Bell for an easy score, with Denver outgaining Minnesota 412 to 269. That performance reads differently now that Brosmer is the fourth quarterback in a room the beat expects to hold three.

Back in July we previewed Minnesota as the division's loudest bounce-back case: a league-most 29 giveaways last season with the scheme, the coordinator and Jefferson all retained, and the whole bet resting on getting merely average quarterback play. Cut day hardened the premise without testing it — Murray is the entrenched starter, and who stands behind him is the one thing this cutdown declined to settle. The bet itself sits exactly where July left it, waiting on the Packers at home on Sunday, September 13.

What to watch next: the waiver wire clears and the practice squads form behind it — where Hekker, Scott, Briscoe and the rest of the cut names actually land is the next episode's job. Beyond that: whether the quarterback room is still four deep by the weekend, and who O'Connell finally names as Murray's backup. We'll check back once the claims and the practice squads are in.

_Data via nflverse._