EAGAN, Minn. — Carson Wentz has made a leap like this before.

Well, not exactly.

A growth spurt in his youth isn't quite on the same level as jumping into the starting lineup in the NFL.

"I just remember praying, 'God if you get me to 6-feet that would be terrific' when I was 5-foot-8 as a (high school) freshman. And then we just kept going," Wentz recalled Wednesday with a laugh. "Everybody's got their own journey. That's the unique part. And so God's writing mine differently than other people."

It's a unique one, certainly. One that Wentz radiated appreciation for as he stood at the podium in the Vikings Indoor Practice Facility Wednesday, approaching his first meaningful start in almost three years.

"Even being here, I would say – I grew up rooting for this team. You know, it's one of those things, you play long enough and you kind of forget about those things, because it's just – it's football, you bounce around teams. But being here, I kind of alluded to it when I first got here, just how cool it is for me to know I used to cheer for the guys that I'm walking down the hallway seeing [on the walls at TCO Performance Center]. I used to come to the Metrodome, and I was waving the towel. … And so running out of that tunnel this week will probably hit me a little bit different – in a really cool, kind of surreal way."

Wentz is getting the nod for Week 3 at Cincinnati at minimum after young starter J.J. McCarthy suffered a high-ankle sprain late in the third quarter of Minnesota's 22-6 loss to Atlanta on Sunday Night Football.

Wentz dislikes the circumstances of his promotion but is eager for what's awaiting him.

"It's a bummer, obviously, what happened to him – been there more times than I care to admit," Wentz said regarding McCarthy's status. "But it's been fun to see how he's responded already, and exciting for me, I'm not gonna lie. It's been a couple years since I played in a game like this with real consequences."

Wentz's intentionality has drawn rave reviews from staff and players, including Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, Offensive Coordinator Wes Phillips, rookie QB Max Brosmer and veteran WR Adam Thielen.

During his weekly Xs and Os chat with Paul Allen on Vikings Audio Network, O'Connell said the intel on Wentz he gathered in conversations with Rams Head Coach Sean McVay and Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid aligned and has "already been confirmed with what Carson's been able to do on the practice field."

Take last Thursday as Exhibit A. McCarthy attended to his fiancée in labor; Wentz subbed in for the 22-year-old quarterback and repped with the 1s. O'Connell called it "one of the blessings" of last week.

A trial run, if you will.

Thursdays in the NFL typically entail blitz packages, third-down call sheets and a simulated environment that's hellbent on urgency, which can breed some player anxiety, O'Connell told Allen.

But Wentz didn't flinch.

"We had a phenomenal Thursday practice and the ball, I don't think it hit the ground more than one time," O'Connell shared. "He was in total command. 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," O'Connell remarked and then recalled that Wentz has "carried teams on his back before" but won't need to do that in his Vikings debut if execution improves.

O'Connell elaborated on Wentz's practice presence and poise in his press conference Wednesday:

"It just kind of felt like a normal day," O'Connell said in reference to last Thursday. "And I think the execution and kind of how I was pushing the group, looking for the growth from Game 1 to Game 2 from a procedural standpoint before the ball's ever snapped – huddle, alignment, landmarks, emotions, and details of things – his ability to absorb all that and then run the show was apparent to everybody."

He added, "I was telling the team today, you've got a guy that's played at a really high level, played a lot of football, and ultimately is at a place in his career where I think you can really tap into a lot of that while also shaping a game plan he's comfortable with and he can go out and have consistent success."

In collaboration with quarterbacks coach Josh McCown and offensive assistant Jordan Traylor, the 32-year-old Wentz hastened his learning, got acquainted with installs and prepared like the starter.

"He's really taken to the role he came in for – knowing that he's one play away," Phillips said.

Thielen has watched Wentz compete in practice with a purposefulness that he linked to age.

"He's a guy that plays with a lot of confidence. You feel that and you see that even before he was starting, just his confidence in individual (drills) and routes on air and in scout-team reps, just going and slinging the football around and having fun doing it," Thielen said. "As you get to be an older player and a veteran player, you learn to just go and enjoy it and not treat it so much like a job and a profession, but really just taking advantage of the moments that you have, and he's a guy that does that, which is great."

Even if the ankle sprain had caused McCarthy to not finish the Sunday Night Football game, Wentz would have functioned off the same menu of plays according to O'Connell.

Phillips noted there's variance with every quarterback. Aspects such as individual strengths and past experiences are agents in comfort level within a new offense. A positive for Wentz, bearing in mind that his debut for Minnesota will occur 28 days after his arrival, is his vast experience with different systems.

"A lot of [what we do as an offense] made sense to him conceptually," Phillips said. "It's just the verbiage, it's kind of connecting those systems together: 'OK, this is that. This is what I know as 'that.'"

"And he's got the confidence of our group. I know that," Phillips continued, doubling down on O'Connell's comments that Wentz impressed last Thursday in McCarthy's stead when he was absent from practice to support the delivery process of his first child Rome Micah McCarthy. "I think people noticed [Carson] right off the bat. He's big. He's got a live arm, all those things. But actually stepping in – it's kind of why you have a veteran backup – I mean, he stepped in and we had a really good practice."

Wentz of course is not an ordinary QB2 on any roster.

He checks the physical-profile boxes of a first-round quarterback: big, strong, live arm. Those are the descriptors regurgitated by Vikings coaches. They were the basis of his 2nd overall draft spot nine years ago. He's also accurate and athletic, which is double trouble for defenses when he plays to his potential.

To an extent, Wentz presents a skill set similar to former Vikings starter Sam Darnold. The former is a couple inches taller, but both have powerful lower bodies and can therefore make plays with their legs and generate good torque and revolutions on their throws. Phillips shared they gravitate toward some of the same throws (Darnold loved attacking the middle of the field) and identified a comparable mindset.

"A little bit of gunslinger in both of them, and you kind of like that," Phillips expressed. "Sometimes you love it, and sometimes you try to rein it back in. But at the same time, you'd kind of rather [have] the guys that you have to rein back a little bit [rather] than [encourage] them to throw the shots and those types of things when some guys in this league, you know, they're prone to throwing the checkdown.

"I think you like it the other way around, where you pull 'em back a little bit," Phillips added. "And Carson's made a lot of plays over his career. I mean, he's had, really, MVP-type seasons in this league. So I think there's a lot of confidence [and] a lot of respect among the players in what Carson can do."

That point – Wentz's performance history, however distant its peaks and valleys – strikes excitement.

In singular spot starts for the Rams and Chiefs over the past two seasons (both in Week 18), Wentz went a combined 27-for-41 passing (65.9 percent) with 261 yards. He played mostly with Kansas City's backups in a shutout loss at Denver in 2024. The year before, he excelled with Rams starters, contributing three touchdowns, including one on the ground, and rushing 17 times for 56 yards in a 21-20 win at the 49ers.

The "chef's kiss" version of Wentz finished third in 2017 on the NFL Most Valuable Player ballot determined by The Associated Press, behind running back Todd Gurley and quarterback Tom Brady. In 13 starts for Philadelphia that season, Wentz compiled a 101.9 passer rating (and NFL-best 78.6 QBR) with 33 passing touchdowns against seven interceptions. The Eagles won 11 of those games and went on to win Super Bowl LII with Nick Foles after Wentz suffered a season-ending and career-altering knee injury.

Wentz is a former North Dakota State star and admitted fan of the Vikings in his youth – especially of Brett Favre during the magical 2009 campaign. He was a junior at Century High in Bismarck that year. Wentz reclaimed his role with Philadelphia in 2018, though not necessarily the same level of gravitas.

From 2018-20, Wentz won 17 of 39 starts (.449) with the Eagles and posted a 64:29 touchdown-to-interception ratio. After 12 games in 2020, Wentz's original team moved on to second-round rookie Jalen Hurts; his 15 picks and 50 sacks taken that season were tops in the NFL.

A switch in scenery in 2021 yielded improved results and paired Wentz with former Colts center and current Viking Ryan Kelly. Winning nine games, Wentz tossed 27 touchdowns and tied his career low of seven interceptions across a full season. He was traded to Washington the following spring, but his success there never materialized. That arc led Wentz to seek out backup roles on teams in contention.

"It's definitely given me a different perspective going from being a starter to traded, cut, all the things, that being a backup the last two years behind some future Hall of Fame quarterbacks, getting to see it done at a very high level," Wentz said about his run of six teams in six seasons. "Also just the perspective of not taking this for granted. You never know when your next chance is going to be in this league. The league's hard; two years ago I was at home until mid-November. It's not something I want to take lightly or take for granted. So I've definitely got a lot of perspective, both from, you know, physically seeing how it's done, but also just the mental side of, you know, being appreciative and not wasting an opportunity."

Being in the same room as Matthew Stafford in L.A. and Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City informed Wentz about the elite processes employed by the decorated quarterbacks – i.e. how they operate pre- and post-snap.

"I think everybody's got kind of their own routine [throughout the week], so to speak, but just seeing how they go about play calls and understanding the defense and processing quickly – Matthew and Pat are as good as it gets at their position. And they couldn't play the game much differently, to be honest, and the offenses are very different, too" Wentz said, expressing how his recent experiences may benefit him. "I gleaned a lot from both in a very different way that I think, hopefully, I can utilize this Sunday."

Wentz said he feels great physically and is in a good spot mentally.

"The coaches have done a great job just helping me try and grasp this as [quickly] as I can," he said with a sincere appreciation. "And that was one of my probably favorite things, just about getting a chance to sign here a couple weeks ago, was just knowing from afar the type of game plans Coach O'Connell puts together, the way he calls plays – just really respected and appreciated and admired that from afar."

Brosmer, an undrafted rookie in line to serve as the backup to Wentz, is doing some admiring as well.

"He's so professional, and you can see how smart he is, how fast he's picked up on our stuff, and how he handles himself as the backup these past two weeks," Brosmer noted. "You always talk about preparing like a starter, and you learn new ways to prepare like a starter. Watching him visualize everything, doing walk-throughs together – he brings me out for walk-throughs and we walk through the plays together, and Josh [McCown] will read the plays out, and we'll talk some defenses, and hearing how he views the defenses and how he views the concepts, it's really cool to hear. I love learning and love people teaching me new things. Carson is a new guy I'm learning from how to see the field differently, maybe."

The Vikings leader on the other side of the ball extended respect too.

"Obviously, I haven't been in meetings with him or know everything from that side of it, but my impressions of him have been very positive," Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores remarked. "And look, he's been around the block, so this isn't, you know, gonna be his first time lining up in an NFL game."

It will be his 99^th in the regular season (and 95^th start).

Wentz's fusion of experience and skills should at least in theory greatly affect Minnesota's offense, which has run an NFL-low 95 plays, moved the chains an NFL-low 24 times and enters Sunday's contest with some kind of score on 30.4 percent of its drives (6^th worst in the NFL – and 11-point decrease from 2024).

Flores was "in the lab working on Cincinnati" when he learned the severity of McCarthy's injury and the offense's plans to pivot to Wentz, who has been sharp servicing the defense in practices, seamlessly providing realistic looks, Flores detailed.

In all seriousness, one reporter asked if Wentz foresaw a moment like this in his NFL journey?

"I'm a human being," he said. "It's hard to not have those thoughts, but at the same time, when they come, it's one of those things I try not to think too futuristically – just be where I'm at, be grateful for the opportunity at hand; not trying to put too much pressure on myself, but not take it for granted either.

Wentz continued with wisdom reserved for someone who was jobless just over three weeks ago: "It's a very human kind of thing to dwell on and think about. But that's where my faith comes in and I just trust: 'OK, God's got the plan. He's writing the story, and I'm just trying to live it out as obediently as I can."

Perhaps it's a climactic homecoming. Maybe it's just another opp for Wentz to be an exemplary teammate. However it goes, Sunday's kickoff against the Bengals at U.S. Bank Stadium will be cherished.

"My family was already planning to come. So now everybody's – now there's even more coming," Wentz smiled. "Again, you never wish for injuries in those capacities, but just the way this is happening, to get a chance – team I grew up for, close to home, all the things – yeah, everybody's excited for the chance."

McCarthy's eventual return will also be exciting after wetting his feet and assessing ways to improve.

"When you're not playing you better be learning from the guy that is," said Phillips, likening McCarthy's circumstances to last year. "You have to learn from other people's mistakes and the coaching points that they get when they do something that maybe is not within the bounds of the offense. You've got to make sure that you're kind of storing those things away in your head to make sure that you can learn and not make the same mistake, not only that you made, but that someone else made in that same situation. We know that J.J. will be very intentional, just as he was rehabbing, and staying in it, staying involved."

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