The Minnesota Vikings pulled off a surprising set of moves on Sunday as they look to finalize their roster for the upcoming season. The process of reducing the number of players from 90 to 53 is always challenging, and it often leads to a few unexpected decisions. But nothing prepared Vikings fans for what happened with the deadline two days away.
The Vikings sent Sam Howell packing in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. Moments later, they signed former Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz. The moves also paved the way to say goodbye to Brett Rypien and ensured that Max Brosmer made the team as an undrafted free agent.
All of these transactions are fine in isolation, but they have a peculiar connection. Everything seems to be linked to a rivalry between the Vikings and Eagles that began in 2017 and has shaped the direction of the franchise.
It all started on an August afternoon in 2016. The Vikings were having their final practices before the 2016 season and were about to open U.S. Bank Stadium. Teddy Bridgewater dropped back to pass and suffered a severe leg injury that altered the trajectory of the Vikings.
With Shaun Hill the only quarterback on the roster, general manager Rick Spielman quickly sent a first-round pick to the Eagles in exchange for Sam Bradford. Bradford was fine for the Vikings, throwing for 3,877 yards, 20 touchdowns, and five interceptions during the 2016 season. However, his knee injuries piled up over the next two seasons, and he retired early in the 2018 season.
The real story here is that it cleared the way for Wentz to start in his rookie season. Wentz had a modest 2016 campaign, throwing for 3,782 yards, 16 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. But the experience helped him reach another gear in 2017. By throwing for 3,296 yards, 33 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, Wentz put the Eagles in position to claim homefield advantage in the NFC before tearing his ACL.
The injury paved the way for Nick Foles, who led the Eagles through the playoffs and set up a meeting with a miraculous Vikings team. Bradford was on the sidelines as Foles pummeled Minnesota, 38-7, but that wasn’t the only parallel that day. Derek Barnett, whom Philadelphia selected with the pick the Vikings traded for Bradford, had a key strip sack of Case Keenum that effectively ended the game. The Eagles went on to win their first Super Bowl — at U.S. Bank Stadium, no less.
The loss lingered, inspiring the Vikings to make changes. When Pat Shurmur left to become the head coach of the New York Giants, Minnesota poached Philadelphia’s coaching staff. They hired former Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo as their new offensive coordinator, but he immediately upset Mike Zimmer.
DeFilippo didn’t last the entire season because Zimmer went on a crusade to run the ball on second-and-long and make Kirk Cousins as miserable as possible. After missing the playoffs in 2018, Cousins came up with a pair of $200 million throws to lead the Vikings to an upset victory in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. The win helped Zimmer, Spielman, and Cousins earn contract extensions, taking them out of the running to select a quarterback in the 2020 draft.
Meanwhile, Wentz was falling out of favor in Philadelphia. He never found the MVP form he displayed before tearing his ACL, and Eagles fans were running out of patience. The Eagles took Jalen Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft, and he replaced Wentz in 2020, who they traded to the Indianapolis Colts a year later.
Things weren’t going well in Minnesota either. Their on-the-fly rebuild didn’t work, and they fired Zimmer at the end of the 2021 season. Kevin O’Connell replaced Zimmer, and the parallels kind of calmed down until Howell reignited it.
A rough preseason convinced the Vikings to pursue other options, and Wentz just happened to be available. One workout later, Howell was on his way to Philadelphia, and Wentz signed in Minnesota. The Eagles needed to release a player after acquiring Howell, so they cut Lewis Cine, who was O’Connell’s first draft pick as head coach, but went to Philadelphia to win a Super Bowl ring after the Buffalo Bills released him last season.
If your head isn’t spinning right now, it’s nothing compared to what could happen next. What if J.J. McCarthy goes down for the second consecutive year, leading Wentz into action? Learning under the coach who made Sam Darnold a free-agent commodity last year could tap into that lost potential, and Wentz could become this generation’s version of Randall Cunningham.
Howell probably won’t see the field in Philadelphia, slotting in as the No. 3 quarterback behind Hurts and Tanner McKee. Still, perhaps the 2026 sixth-round pick could be a special teamer who causes a soul-crushing fumble, or the next Tom Brady/Brock Purdy-type superstar who becomes a household name. In this rivalry full of parallels, echos, and reverberations, anything seems possible.