Minnesota Vikings News and Links: Next Man Up

Going to be a really interesting game tomorrow. I am hoping for the best and that Carson Wentz does reasonably well. If Joshua Dobbs can play well in only three days prep time, I expect Wentz do to just as well if not better.

Note: Any links provided may or may not reflect my opinion.

No one knew it at the time, but the Vikings’ practice last Thursday was a foreshadowing of what was soon to come.

With J.J. McCarthy awaiting the birth of his son, Carson Wentz stepped in and led the Vikings’ first-team offense during practice. Wentz is once again leading the Vikings in practice this week after McCarthy sustained an ankle injury during Sunday night’s loss to the Falcons that is expected to sideline him for several weeks.

Wentz, a former No. 2 overall pick one-time Pro Bowler with the Eagles, has received rave reviews as he prepares for Sunday’s game against the Bengals in what will be his first meaningful start in nearly three years.

“He was in total command,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said of last Thursday’s practice. “I was really pushing the group via the play clock coming off the Chicago game because I thought we were a little slow with our operation, especially early, and I was trying to push the entire group and obviously the quarterback is going to feel that. And Carson did a phenomenal job with that.”

How is McCarthy doing now that he’s five days removed from the ankle sprain suffered last Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons? It sounds like he’s recovering nicely, though he is still wearing a walking boot as a “precaution,” according to head coach Kevin O’Connell.

“He’s progressing. He was able to be out at practice and standing right next to me as I’m calling the plays in to Carson. That’s the best development and dialogue in this particular short term that he’s going to be able to have. He’s been great in meetings. Great questions. Handling his responsibilities from a rehab standpoint,” O’Connell said Friday.

“We’re kind of through that initial wave of getting the swelling down and all those things. Now, as we progress, we just see where he’s at in his daily progression of getting back.”

Ja’Marr Chase was asked an important question on Thursday: Is he allowed to Griddy in Justin Jefferson’s house? He didn’t hesitate in his answer.

“I mean, if he doesn’t want me to, I wanna do it,” said Chase of his friend and former LSU teammate. “If he doesn’t want me to do it then I’m gonna do it now, purposely. I wanna piss him off. Hell yeah.”

“Who knows what I’ll do when I get in the end zone,” he added. “I might get a fine this week.”
…
Jefferson will have plenty of motivation, knowing he’s never scored against or beaten the Bengals. If he needed any extra juice, Chase’s playful trash talk might have supplied it.

“It’s always extra,” Jefferson said of going against Chase. “It’s always extra when you have a player like that that’s top in the league just as well as I am. Of course that competitive aspect is there. But at the end of the day, it’s about our team and it’s about winning. So as long as those two things are done, then I’m happy leaving the building.”

Will Ragatz: Bengals 20, Vikings 17
I understand why the Vikings are favored; they absolutely have the talent and coaching staff to win this game. But I’m going to take a wait-and-see approach with Carson Wentz. He hasn’t started a game with meaningful stakes in close to three years, and he’s been in Minnesota for less than a month. There’s a lot of uncertainty there. It would also be helpful to know if Christian Darrisaw and/or Ryan Kelly are going to play on Sunday.

Joe Nelson: Vikings 30, Bengals 16
True: Jake Browning is a solid backup quarterback. More true: Carson Wentz is an elite backup quarterback. False: The Bengals have a good defense. True: The Vikings have a great defense. Through two weeks, the Bengals and Vikings are living in the Upside Down, but the poles are going to flip and bring the football world back to balance as the Vikings expose Cincinnati’s defense and generate a collective sigh of relief for worried fans.

Tony Liebert: Bengals 24, Vikings 20
Jonathan Harrison: Vikings 14, Bengals 10

While the sight of two NFL backup quarterbacks playing against each other is a common occurrence, what’s rare is how early the situation is presenting itself during the regular season. Sunday’s matchup between Wentz and Browning will be the first time in 27 years where two quarterbacks will face each other in Week 3 after not starting either of the first two weeks of their team’s seasons.

Strangely enough, that last instance (in fact, nearly to the day) also featured Minnesota. After Vikings starter Brad Johnson broke his leg in Week 2 of the 1998 season, Randall Cunningham made his first start of the season. On the other side, Detroit named Charlie Batch its starting QB after Scott Mitchell was benched following the team’s 0-2 start. Cunningham and the Vikings won the game 29-6, earning Minnesota its third of a franchise-record 15 victories that season.

Vikings 27, Bengals 17 – Pete Prisco, CBS Sports
Browning came off the bench in the Bengals victory over the Jaguars and led them to victory late. But I think Wentz at home will be the one who plays the better of the two to win it.

Bengals 24, Vikings 21 – Bill Bender, Sporting News
LSU teammates Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson will make plays, but it will come down to who wins the turnover battle.

Bengals 34, Vikings 31 – Vinnie Iyer, Sporting News
Browning should be motivated to attack the Vikings turnover-oriented defense who can’t handle all of his key weapons. Carson Wentz, who is replacing the injured J.J. McCarthy, will have trouble answering enough in a shootout.

4 of 7 experts pick the Vikings, The Athletic

Thought from The Athletic’s J.J. Bailey:

On one hand, it will never cease to amaze how steep the drop-off is from starter to backup quarterback in the NFL. On the other, the degree to which Cincinnati embraces its “break glass” protocol is truly admirable. Joe Burrow is out. They say for three months, but none of the 25 players who had the surgery he’s having returned the same season, and five of the 25 never returned at all. It is definitively Jake Browning Time, and the assignment for Browning is elegantly simple: You will put the ball into the hands of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. There are no qualifiers to that. The how doesn’t matter. The stats do not matter. Things like sound strategy, Browning’s feelings or watchability are luxuries Cincinnati can no longer afford, and they know it. It’s feed the big dogs or die trying.

This is why Chase and Higgins accounted for two-thirds of Browning’s yards and more than half of his targets and completions. Incompletion? Who cares? Go again. Interception? Not a problem, do it again. Another interception? Psssh. Let it fly. Another? taps sign Chase and Higgins are two of the hardest takedowns in the NFL. The more they have the ball, the more chances they have to YAC their way to the end zone. Browning was in for 2.5 quarters, had three picks and a passer rating of 69.9. Higgins and Chase had 107 YAC, a pair of TDs and the Bengals won the game. Brian Flores will surely try to take them away, but I’m not sure he comprehends the lengths to which Browning and Cincinnati are willing to debase themselves to achieve their goal.

For their part, the Vikings surely don’t want their franchise quarterback playing on a bum ankle after missing a year with a shredded knee, but the alternative is Carson Wentz, who has attempted 43 NFL passes since 2023. He also won’t have Aaron Jones in the backfield, so this could get very strange very quickly. Worth a watch!

What I’m watching
Lewis: Jordan Mason. This feels like a breakout spot. Not only will he be starting with fellow running back Aaron Jones on injured reserve, but Mason is also going up against a middling Bengals run defense. Last week, the Jacksonville Jaguars of all teams averaged 5.1 yards per carry against Cincinnati. Mason is more formidable than Travis Etienne or Bhayshul Tuten. The difference in the Vikings’ run game is stark with Mason on the field. Minnesota has a 51.9 percent success rate on Mason’s runs thus far in 2025, which would be good for No. 1 in the NFL. The team had a 35.7 percent rushing success rate with Jones on the field, which would have hovered in the bottom third of the league. Double-teams should work against Bengals interior defenders B.J. Hill and T.J. Slaton. Mason should be in for a big day.

Predictions
Lewis: Vikings 27, Bengals 17.
Krawczynski: Bengals 21, Vikings 18.

Note: Just because people are expressing concerns (and a lot are) about JJ does not mean they do not want him to succeed.

I wanted to keep doing college football previews but this site does not have enough interested members. Kind of sad but folks might not have enough time.

Some games today though …

12 p.m. | No. 17 Texas Tech at No. 16 Utah | FOX

David Bailey | Texas Tech | EDGE | 6’3” | 250 | SR
Lee Hunter | Texas Tech | DL1T | 6’4” | 320 | RSR
Jacob Rodriguez | Texas Tech | ILB | 6’1” | 230 | RSR
Cole Wisniewski | Texas Tech | S | 6’3” | 218 | RSR
Romello Height | Texas Tech | EDGE | 6’3” | 240 | RSR
Spencer Fano | Utah | OT | 6’5” | 304 | JR
Caleb Lomu | Utah | OT | 6’5” | 302 | RSO
Tao Johnson | Utah | S | 6’1” | 193 | RJR
Lander Barton | Utah | ILB | 6’3” | 236 | SR
Smith Snowden | Utah | CBN | 5’9” | 185 | JR

Bailey and Height vs Fano and Lomu will be good to see as all are draft candidates.

3:30 p.m. | No. 22 Auburn at No. 11 Oklahoma | ABC

Keldric Faulk | Auburn | DL5T | 6’5” | 288 | JR
Eric Singleton Jr. | Auburn | WRS | 5’10” | 190 | JR
Connor Lew | Auburn | OC | 6’3” | 302 | JR
Xavier Chaplin | Auburn | OT | 6’6” | 338 | RJR
Izavion Miller | Auburn | OG | 6’5” | 311 | RSR
Jeremiah Cobb | Auburn | RB | 5’10” | 196 | JR
John Mateer | Oklahoma | QB | 6’1” | 219 | RJR
Deion Burks | Oklahoma | WRS | 5’9” | 194 | RSR
R Mason Thomas | Oklahoma | EDGE | 6’2” | 243 | SR
Peyton Bowen | Oklahoma | S | 6’0” | 199 | JR
Jaydn Ott | Oklahoma | RB | 6’0” | 210 | SR
Febechi Nwaiwu | Oklahoma | OG | 6’4” | 339 | RSR
Gracen Halton | Oklahoma | DL3T | 6’2” | 285 | SR
Marvin Jones Jr. | Oklahoma | EDGE | 6’5” | 255 | SR
Gentry Williams | Oklahoma | CB | 6’0” | 187 | SR

I want to see Connor Lew, Keldric Faulk, Deion Burks, and Gracen Halton.

3:30 p.m. | No. 21 Michigan at Nebraska | CBS/Paramount+
Jyaire Hill | Michigan | CB | 6’1” | 185 | RSO
Justice Haynes | Michigan | RB | 5’10” | 210 | JR
Derrick Moore | Michigan | EDGE | 6’3” | 256 | SR
Rod Moore | Michigan | S | 5’11” | 198 | RSR
Rayshaun Benny | Michigan | DL3T | 6’3” | 296 | RSR
T.J. Guy | Michigan | EDGE | 6’4” | 250 | RSR
Jaishawn Barham | Michigan | ILB | 6’3” | 248 | SR
Zeke Berry | Michigan | CB | 5’11” | 196 | RJR
Ernest Hausmann | Michigan | OLB | 6’2” | 235 | SR
Elijah Pritchett | Nebraska | OT | 6’5” | 327 | RJR
Dane Key | Nebraska | WR | 6’2” | 210 | SR
Dasan McCullough | Nebraska | OLB | 6’4” | 235 | SR

I really just want to see Dylan Raiola QB Nebraska who is not draft eligible.

7:30 p.m. | Florida at No. 4 Miami (Fla.) | ABC
Tyreak Sapp | Florida | DL5T | 6’3” | 275 | RSR
Austin Barber | Florida | OT | 6’5” | 314 | RSR
Caleb Banks | Florida | DL1T | 6’6” | 325 | RSR
Jake Slaughter | Florida | OC | 6’5” | 308 | RSR
Roderick Kearney | Florida | OG | 6’4” | 305 | RSO
Eugene Wilson III | Florida | WRS | 5’10” | 183 | JR
J. Michael Sturdivant | Florida | WR | 6’2” | 205 | RSR
Francis Mauigoa | Miami (FL) | OT | 6’6” | 315 | JR
Rueben Bain Jr. | Miami (FL) | EDGE | 6’3” | 275 | JR
Carson Beck | Miami (FL) | QB | 6’4” | 220 | RSR
Akheem Mesidor | Miami (FL) | DL5T | 6’2” | 280 | RSR
Damari Brown | Miami (FL) | CB | 6’1” | 190 | JR
C.J. Daniels | Miami (FL) | WR | 6’2” | 205 | RSR
Anez Cooper | Miami (FL) | OG | 6’5” | 350 | SR

A lot of players to watch here. Barber Banks, Slaughter, Mauigoa, Bain Jr, & Daniels.

7:30 p.m. | No. 9 Illinois at No.19 Indiana | NBC/Peacock
Gabe Jacas | Illinois | EDGE | 6’2” | 275 | SR
Xavier Scott | Illinois | CB | 5’11” | 190 | SR
Hank Beatty | Illinois | WRS | 5’10” | 185 | SR
J.C. Davis | Illinois | OT | 6’5” | 320 | RSR
D’Angelo Ponds | Indiana | CBN | 5’9” | 170 | JR
Fernando Mendoza | Indiana | QB | 6’5” | 225 | RJR
Elijah Sarratt | Indiana | WR | 6’2” | 209 | SR
Mikail Kamara | Indiana | EDGE | 6’0” | 265 | RSR
Amare Ferrell | Indiana | S | 6’2” | 200 | JR
Aiden Fisher | Indiana | ILB | 6’1” | 233 | SR
Roman Hemby | Indiana | RB | 6’0” | 208 | RSR
Carter Smith | Indiana | OT | 6’5” | 308 | RJR

Big game. Players to watch include Scott, Davis, Ponds, Mendoza, Ferrell, and Hemby.

And, of course …
11 p.m. | Michigan State at No. 25 USC | FOX
Malik Spencer | Michigan State | S | 6’1” | 192 | SR
Jack Velling | Michigan State | TE | 6’4” | 244 | SR
Aidan Chiles | Michigan State | QB | 6’3” | 217 | JR
Makai Lemon | USC | WR | 5’11” | 190 | JR
Kamari Ramsey | USC | S | 6’0” | 204 | RJR
Ja’Kobi Lane | USC | WR | 6’4” | 195 | JR
Braylan Shelby | USC | EDGE | 6’5” | 265 | JR
Eric Gentry | USC | OLB | 6’5” | 215 | RSR
D.J. Harvey | USC | CBN | 5’11” | 174 | RSR

Ramsey and Gentry are the Trojans I like as potential future Vikings.

Trade Partner: Steelers
Sent: Pick 16, Pick 113
Received: Pick 20, Pick 74
…
Trade Partner: Browns
Sent: Pick 80, Pick 196
Received: Pick 98, Pick 130, Pick 155
…

Pick 20. LT Overton EDGE Alabama 6’4” 283
Pick 48. Connor Lew OC Auburn 6’3” 302
Pick 80. Daylen Everette CB Georgia 6’1” 190
Pick 98. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren S Toledo 6’2” 202
Pick 130. Taylen Green QB Arkansas 6’6” 230
Pick 155. Jake Golday LB Cincinnati 6’4” 240
Pick 176. Demond Claiborne RB Wake Forest 5’10” 195
Pick 204. Lee Hunter DT Texas Tech 6’4” 320
Pick 207. Patrick Payton EDGE LSU 6’5” 250
Pick 209. VJ Payne S Kansas 6’3” 208

Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:

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