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

With a trade and a free-agent pickup Sunday morning, the 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 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 Gophers quarterback Max Brosmer, who will likely make the team after a strong preseason.

Wentz, 32, 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 Los Angeles 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 State, 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 seasons with the Eagles before he was traded to the Colts in 2021. He started every game that season for Indianapolis, then was dealt to Washington in 2022. He missed half the 2022 season because of a fractured finger. After being released by the Commanders in 2023, he has been a backup for the Rams and the Kansas City Chiefs.

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 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 wide 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 past week that the team was holding discussions with the Carolina 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 Panthers. The extra picks they acquired in Sunday’s trade could help them land Thielen or another veteran receiver.