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.
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).
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.
The Vikings acquired Sam Howell during the draft in April, but he struggled in the preseason and training camp. (Rebecca Villagracia/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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.
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.