Analysis: As the Vikings quarterbacks turn, Max Brosmer watches and learns

With J.J. McCarthy still working back from a high-ankle sprain and Carson Wentz apparently not veteran enough to slide when linebackers are fast approaching, this seemed like a good week to ask what benchmarks the Vikings are using to determine whether No. 3 quarterback Max Brosmer is improving in the early stages of his journey as an undrafted rookie from the University of Minnesota.

So offensive coordinator Wes Phillips was asked the following:

“What gauges have you used to decide that Max is getting better and could be trusted enough to take over when Carson doesn’t slide when he’s supposed to?”

Phillips paused. Smiled.

“There’s a little extra in that” question, he said.

Phillips didn’t comment on the suggestion that Wentz shouldn’t have been taking on Browns linebackers to the point where Carson Schwesinger sent him to the sideline with a left shoulder injury in the closing seconds of the first half of the Oct. 5 game in London.

Phillips did, however, jump all in on what makes him think that the Brosmer Project is progressing nicely. Mostly, Phillips talked about what he’s seen while watching Brosmer handle all the scout-team reps the backups run to give defensive coordinator Brian Flores and his troops a “look” at the plays that week’s opponent is likely to run.

Phillips also mentioned weeks when an opposing quarterback’s mobility has required Brosmer to mimic that player’s scrambling, running and off-script improvisation. It sure sounds like Brosmer has been impressive doing that while being chased by the NFL’s most blitz-heavy defense.

“Those reps are valuable,” Phillips said. “It’s genuinely harder for that look-team quarterback protection-wise. Maybe they don’t have the right protection against a certain pressure that Flo wants to bring … so those [defenders] are buzzing the tower a lot.”

Obviously, there’s no threat of a quarterback getting clobbered in practice, but those reps are a good indication of how well a young quarterback prepares and how quickly he processes what’s going on around him.

“No one is going to question Max’s preparation going into any football game, no matter if he’s the emergency ‘3’ or the ‘2’ or if he was going in as the starter,” Phillips said. “We all feel great about intangibly everything Max brings to the table.”

Monday, Brosmer was asked coming off the practice field how he knows whether he’s getting better, when there is little game-day action to go by other than mop-up duty against the Bengals and a kneel-down to close out the first half against the Browns.

Brosmer also is smart. Smart enough not to tell a reporter if he’s being primed as the No. 2 or 3 QB ahead of Sunday’s game against the Eagles. If the Vikings make McCarthy the No. 2, they no longer can use his health as the reason he’s not starting. (But they can argue with merit that the young fella isn’t ready because he hasn’t practiced much the last month).

Brosmer also talks about the value of staying after practice to work on mechanics, of performing “reps on air,” which is sort of a way of saying visualizing, of learning from Wentz on how to behave and watch film like a pro, of taking advantage of the handful of first-team practice reps he got while serving as the No. 2 the past three games and of soaking in the QB guru-ness of coach Kevin O’Connell.

“There are things I looked at that he looks at in a completely different way,” Brosmer said. “Things that got me to change my opinion, my view to make myself better.”

One example: “Using the ground.”

Um, what?

“When I see myself in like 10 years, for example, and what I want to look like, that’s something I want to look like — being extremely grounded, extremely calm and poised while also being loose in the pocket.”

Brosmer came oh-so-close to playing the second half of the Browns game. He was preparing to play while Wentz’s injured left shoulder was being evaluated right up to when the team left the locker room for the second half.

“I didn’t know, but that’s my job — to not know what’s going to happen, but still be ready,” Brosmer said. “It’s challenging, but it’s fun. It’s the best job in the entire world.”

A year ago, Brosmer said, he had “no idea” where he’d be or what he’d be doing this fall.

“I was confident I could play at this level; still confident,” he said. “The more I tried to think about where I would be, the more stressed I got. When you do that, you lose track of where you are.”

“I have a biomedical science undergraduate degree, and I was pre-med,” Brosmer said. “If I wasn’t an athlete at all, I’d probably be a doctor. Ortho. I want to be in orthopedics. But football is my love and my dream, and I get to keep doing it on a daily basis. It’s awesome.”

And, apparently, he’s taking his opportunities seriously. Which he should, considering McCarthy’s injury history and Wentz’ competitiveness when linebackers are fast approaching.

“You have to make the most of those reps as a look-team player,” Phillips said. “You can’t treat it as, ‘Hey, I’m just giving them a look.’ It’s, ‘These are my reps. These are my chances to improve as a football player.’ And he certainly does that.”