With a trade and a free-agent pickup on Sunday morning, the Minnesota 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.

The Minnesota Vikings added quarterback Carson Wentz to its roster on Sunday after the team traded Sam Howell to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Sunday’s surprising-but-not decision to sign Wentz and trade Sam Howell represents an admission by the Vikings that they should have just signed Wentz in the first place, and not traded for Howell. Wentz arrives cold; if he’d been signed in April, he would have had the benefit of the offseason program, training camp, and the preseason.