Vikings sign QB Carson Wentz, trade Sam Howell to the Eagles

Ben Goessling, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Aug 24, 2025

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — With a trade and a free-agent pickup on Sunday morning, the Minnesota Vikings reshaped their quarterback room.

They traded Sam Howell to the Philadelphia Eagles, along with a 2026 sixth-round pick, for a 2026 fifth-rounder and a 2027 seventh-rounder. Almost simultaneously, they signed Carson Wentz, the former Eagles MVP candidate who worked out with the team on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon, the team released quarterback Brett Rypien as part of an initial round of roster cuts before Tuesday’s deadline to get down to 53 players. The move likely sets the Vikings’ quarterback depth chart with McCarthy, Wentz and former Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer, who will likely make the team after a strong preseason.

The 32-year-old Wentz becomes the Vikings’ veteran backup behind J.J. McCarthy, bringing both familiarity with the team’s offensive structure (thanks to his 2023 stint with the Rams) and its coaching staff (Vikings QB coach Josh McCown backed up Wentz in Philadelphia during his final season as a player in 2019).

The Vikings had traded for Howell to be the No. 2 quarterback behind McCarthy, but his spotty preseason performance left open the possibility the Vikings would look elsewhere for a veteran QB.

Wentz, a former star in Bismarck, N.D., and at North Dakota Stater, was the No. 2 overall pick by the Eagles in the 2016 draft. He tore the ACL in his left knee late in the 2017 season, when Philadelphia won the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Wentz spent five years with the Eagles before being traded to the Indianapolis Colts in 2021. He started every game that season for Indianapolis, then was dealt to Washington in 2022. He missed half the 2022 season with a fractured finger. After being released by the Commanders in 2023, he’s been a backup for the Los Angeles Rams and Kansas City Chiefs.

The Vikings’ deal with the Eagles is their second involving a veteran in the past week, after they traded defensive tackle Harrison Phillips to the New York Jets. The Howell deal helped them recoup the 2027 seventh-rounder they lost in the Phillips trade, while the 2026 sixth-rounder they sent to the Eagles came after they landed Denver’s sixth-rounder in the deal with the Jets.

All told, the Vikings netted a 2026 fifth-rounder and a 2027 sixth-rounder in the two trades, while clearing more than $3 million of cap space in the Phillips deal. Terms of their contract with Wentz weren’t immediately known on Sunday morning, but the Vikings had nearly $30 million in cap space available.

The extra draft capital, and the Vikings’ cap space, could help them make a deal for a receiver in the coming days as they continue to look for depth with Jordan Addison beginning the season with a three-game suspension and Jalen Nailor dealing with a hand injury.

Sources said this week the team was holding discussions with the Panthers on a deal that would bring wide receiver Adam Thielen back to Minnesota.

Thielen has a $6.25 million base salary this season; the Vikings’ efforts to acquire the 35-year-old could hinge on how much of his salary they’re willing to absorb, as well as whether they can agree on draft pick compensation with the Carolina Panthers. The extra picks they acquired in Sunday’s trade could help them land Thielen, or another veteran receiver.

____