Max Brosmer will make his first start in the Vikings-Sam Darnold reunion game

JJ McCarthy landed in the NFL’s concussion protocol last week, months after Sam Darnold left Minnesota for Seattle.

The fallout from these two situations will directly impact Sunday’s game between the Darnold-less Vikings and the Darnold-led Seahawks.

On consecutive fourth-quarter plays last week at Green Bay, McCarthy had his head slammed into the ground — the first when he was tackled by Packers linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, then on the next play when he was chased down and tackled by Green Bay defensive end Kingsley Enagbare.

McCarthy self-reported his symptoms on the flight back to Minnesota from Green Bay, then ended up in the concussion protocol, where he currently is, sources told ESPN.

With McCarthy out, the Vikings will start undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer, who played last season at the University of Minnesota.

And just like that, the Vikings find themselves in the kind of predicament they hoped to avoid last offseason, when two of their quarterbacks — Darnold and Daniel Jones — were set to become free agents.

The Vikings tried to re-sign Darnold, but they weren’t as aggressive as the Seahawks or Steelers. The Seahawks offered Darnold more money and more years than Minnesota did. Seattle’s offer was proof that they wanted and valued Darnold more than Minnesota, and the Seahawks landed their new starting quarterback just days after trading former starting quarterback Geno Smith to the Raiders.

Darnold – the son of a plumber and a teacher – thrived in Seattle.

McCarthy, for his part, has had another injury-plagued season — first suffering a sprained ankle in Week 2 that kept him out until recently, and now a concussion that will sideline him at least Sunday.

The Vikings will now turn to Brosmer, who they have been monitoring since last year. He first caught the attention of Vikings officials at the University of Minnesota’s pro day in March 2024, just after transferring to the University of New Hampshire program. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah were both in attendance that day and were impressed.

Golden Gophers coach PJ Fleck then defended Brosmer to Adofo-Mensah, who pushed for the young quarterback to be invited to the NFL scouting party in February. Adofo-Mensah lobbied for Brosmer even though the Vikings, who entered the 2025 draft with just four selections, didn’t have a great chance of drafting him.

A few weeks later, at the Gophers’ 2025 pro day, the Vikings general manager was heard saying that he “kind of wished[ed]“He didn’t push for Brosmer to join the grouping “because then he really would be our secret.”

Brosmer ultimately went undrafted, but the Vikings were the more aggressive team in signing him. He will become the first quarterback to make his first career start for an NFL team in the same state where he played college football since Joshua Dobbs, who played at the University of Tennessee and made his first start for the Titans in 2022.

Brosmer also attended the same high school as Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald – Centennial High School in Roswell, Georgia.

So the Vikings lost Darnold but got Brosmer back – and will now have the chance to see the two quarterbacks face off Sunday in Seattle.