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The subject of backup quarterbacks came up years ago in an interview with former Browns and Giants General Manager Ernie Accorsi. He had already been through the 1988 season when his Browns reached the playoffs with 10 wins while starting four quarterbacks: Bernie Kosar, Mike Pagel, Gary Danielson and Don Strock, who came out of retirement.
“The most important position on your football team is the quarterback,” Accorsi said. “The second-most important position is your backup quarterback.”
The Vikings have a long history of backup quarterbacks who have thrived when thrust into uncomfortable positions.
Bob Lee
Wade Wilson
Randall Cunningham
Kase Keenum
It took the Vikings 121 days from April 26 to Aug. 24 to conclude that Sam Howell does not possess the leading trait that all good, dependable backup quarterbacks have in common.
And what, pray tell, is that leading trait?
Well, the Minnesota Star Tribune spent some time this summer asking that question to smart people. The answers were varied, nuanced and in no way described the 24-year-old Mr. Howell, whose 5-13 career record includes going 4-13 while leading the NFL in interceptions (21) and sacks (65) for Washington in 2023.
Eventually, the Vikings did what all of Vikings Nation anticipated when they discarded Howell, whom they had traded for from Seattle, to Philadelphia. In his stead, they signed Carson Wentz, who is eight years wiser than Howell, has started 76 more games (94) and has had stints under two of the league’s leading offensive gurus — the Rams’ Sean McVay and the Chiefs’ Andy Reid — the past two years.
We’ll let Kevin O’Connell bat leadoff as we try to answer the question above. Why? For starters, he’s the Vikings head coach and play-caller. Secondly, he’s also a QB guru so adept that he won 2024 NFL Coach of the Year almost exclusively because he did the unthinkable — coaxing career highs out of Sam Darnold in completion percentage (.662), passing yards (4,319), touchdown passes (35), passer rating (102.5) and, oh yeah, wins by a doubled amount (14).
“First and foremost, [the backup] has to be a guy who has ownership of the plan without taking reps,” O’Connell said. “You can count on one hand in a normal game week the reps he’ll get, especially if you have a young [starting] quarterback,” which the Vikings do in 22-year-old J.J. McCarthy, who has never started an NFL regular-season game.
So if you’re going to be a backup quarterback for the Vikings, O’Connell continued, “you need to maximize the meeting room, the walkthroughs, the [limited] reps and step in and execute the game plan that week. And do it with confidence.”
Does that describe Wentz? Well, those of us who doubted Darnold, the third overall pick of the Jets in 2018 — two years after Wentz went second overall to the Eagles — probably should reserve judgment.
We asked Wentz to identify the best trait that all good, dependable backups have in common.
“That’s a great question,” he said. “And I’m still trying to figure that out. I’m not going to lie.”
Helping Wentz figure it out is Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, Wentz’s backup in Philadelphia in 2019 and a guy who was mostly an NFL backup through 16 seasons and nine teams.
“I tell the [backups] to go steal a physical rep later on air with nobody watching, but to remember what you saw [in practice] mentally,” McCown said. “That’s the trait you got to have because it’s the only way you can get yourself ready to play a game when you’re not getting reps.”
Wentz said he thinks the key will be his “willingness to put the team first,” especially when it’s a team with a starting quarterback “who’s never even been through a game-week preparation.”
“It’s still a little new for me,” Wentz said. “But willingness to serve, however that looks. Whether it’s staying after to help a guy or watching extra film. Whatever it looks like, both on and off the field, because as QB1 there’s a lot of pressure both on and off the field.”
STRIB
“The most important position on your football team is the quarterback,” Accorsi said. “The second-most important position is your backup quarterback.”
The Vikings have a long history of backup quarterbacks who have thrived when thrust into uncomfortable positions.
Bob Lee
Wade Wilson
Randall Cunningham
Kase Keenum
It took the Vikings 121 days from April 26 to Aug. 24 to conclude that Sam Howell does not possess the leading trait that all good, dependable backup quarterbacks have in common.
And what, pray tell, is that leading trait?
Well, the Minnesota Star Tribune spent some time this summer asking that question to smart people. The answers were varied, nuanced and in no way described the 24-year-old Mr. Howell, whose 5-13 career record includes going 4-13 while leading the NFL in interceptions (21) and sacks (65) for Washington in 2023.
Eventually, the Vikings did what all of Vikings Nation anticipated when they discarded Howell, whom they had traded for from Seattle, to Philadelphia. In his stead, they signed Carson Wentz, who is eight years wiser than Howell, has started 76 more games (94) and has had stints under two of the league’s leading offensive gurus — the Rams’ Sean McVay and the Chiefs’ Andy Reid — the past two years.
We’ll let Kevin O’Connell bat leadoff as we try to answer the question above. Why? For starters, he’s the Vikings head coach and play-caller. Secondly, he’s also a QB guru so adept that he won 2024 NFL Coach of the Year almost exclusively because he did the unthinkable — coaxing career highs out of Sam Darnold in completion percentage (.662), passing yards (4,319), touchdown passes (35), passer rating (102.5) and, oh yeah, wins by a doubled amount (14).
“First and foremost, [the backup] has to be a guy who has ownership of the plan without taking reps,” O’Connell said. “You can count on one hand in a normal game week the reps he’ll get, especially if you have a young [starting] quarterback,” which the Vikings do in 22-year-old J.J. McCarthy, who has never started an NFL regular-season game.
So if you’re going to be a backup quarterback for the Vikings, O’Connell continued, “you need to maximize the meeting room, the walkthroughs, the [limited] reps and step in and execute the game plan that week. And do it with confidence.”
Does that describe Wentz? Well, those of us who doubted Darnold, the third overall pick of the Jets in 2018 — two years after Wentz went second overall to the Eagles — probably should reserve judgment.
We asked Wentz to identify the best trait that all good, dependable backups have in common.
“That’s a great question,” he said. “And I’m still trying to figure that out. I’m not going to lie.”
Helping Wentz figure it out is Vikings quarterbacks coach Josh McCown, Wentz’s backup in Philadelphia in 2019 and a guy who was mostly an NFL backup through 16 seasons and nine teams.
“I tell the [backups] to go steal a physical rep later on air with nobody watching, but to remember what you saw [in practice] mentally,” McCown said. “That’s the trait you got to have because it’s the only way you can get yourself ready to play a game when you’re not getting reps.”
Wentz said he thinks the key will be his “willingness to put the team first,” especially when it’s a team with a starting quarterback “who’s never even been through a game-week preparation.”
“It’s still a little new for me,” Wentz said. “But willingness to serve, however that looks. Whether it’s staying after to help a guy or watching extra film. Whatever it looks like, both on and off the field, because as QB1 there’s a lot of pressure both on and off the field.”
STRIB
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