Carson Wentz
Getty
Carson Wentz had an edge going into the NFL 10 years ago.
The Minnesota Vikings likely won’t see many flashes of quarterback Carson Wentz’s MVP-caliber performance of 2017 in the coming season, but his experience in quarterback development could benefit a position group in major transition.
Minnesota will look to either find a career resurgence in Kyler Murray or get J.J. McCarthy on track in year three, unless Wentz beats both for the starting job. Wentz, once a No. 2 pick, recently joked with New York Post writer Ryan Dunleavy that he couldn’t fully reveal how his pre-NFL development at North Dakota State led to early success in the league and how his alma mater has produced another four NFL quarterbacks since.
“If I told you the answer, everyone would be doing it,” Wentz humorously told Dunleavy.
Wentz sat the first three years of his collegiate career at NDSU before he became the Philadelphia Eagles‘ top pick in 2016. He succeeded immediately as a starter that year after the Eagles traded former quarterback Sam Bradford to the Vikings.
Wentz’s success only grew when he contended for the MVP award in 2017, but his season got cut short with an ACL tear. The Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl in Minneapolis with backup quarterback Nick Foles, and Wentz’s career never looked the same.
Carson Wentz Was NFL-Ready Before Eagles
Wentz learned a pro-style offense at NDSU, which helped him move up the draft board a decade ago.
“Coming in the league, I was almost surprised that there were a lot of things I didn’t have to do as the quarterback,” Wentz told Dunleavy. “To some extent, you get to just play a little bit. My rookie year, I wasn’t named the [Eagles] starter until eight days before the first game, and I hadn’t had a single rep with the 1s until that point.”
“But I didn’t bat an eye because I felt prepared. Not just through the offseason but because of what I was asked to do at NDSU and the ability to be under center, power-run game, play-action and bootlegs,” Wentz added. “I didn’t live in the shotgun. I didn’t clap my hands for the ball. I didn’t look for a sign on the sideline that told me the play. All those things made the transition a lot smoother than it would’ve been for some.”
Transition from college to the pros has been a major adjustment for McCarthy in particular. His college career concluded with an unbeaten national championship season at Michigan in 2023, but McCarthy struggled in his first season as the Vikings starter last year.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell keeping Wentz around gives McCarthy a chance to work with and compete with a teammate who has been a student of the game and playing in a pro-style setting since 2011.
Learning From a Pro
Wentz started off learning from a former NFL quarterback in Randy Hedberg, the quarterbacks coach at NDSU between 2014 and 2024. Hedberg played two seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1970s before a 40-year coaching career.
“He’s one of my favorites I’ve ever been around,” Wentz said about Hedberg. “For him to demand the respect that he did but have the perfect balance of, he’s a hard-ass but [only] to the point you know that he loves you and truly cares about the program. He imparted the mental development of appreciating the grind, appreciating the small details that truly make a difference on Saturday — that, quite frankly, translate into my career on Sundays as well.”
Translating that to the Vikings, Wentz and company in the quarterback room work with a head coach in O’Connell who played the position as a backup in the league. O’Connell has enjoyed success coaching quarterbacks such as Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins, and Matthew Stafford since 2021.
The Vikings will now look for an answer among Wentz, McCarthy, and Murray in 2026.