Max Brosmer’s Arrival Could Be a Game-Changer for Vikings in Week 13
When they step on the field this upcoming Sunday for a Week 13 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, the Minnesota Vikings could be trotting out undrafted rookie Max Brosmer as their starting quarterback for the contest.
Following Minnesota's announcement on Monday that J.J. McCarthy has entered the concussion protocol, Brosmer is now on track to start under center in Seattle this weekend.
A good portion of Vikings fans are familiar with Brosmer, since he played his college ball right down the road from U.S. Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota. But for those who aren't as up to speed on the undrafted rookie's journey, let's take a look at how he eventually landed a spot on the Vikings' roster this season.
Who is Minnesota Vikings QB Max Brosmer?
After attending high school in Roswell, Georgia, Brosmer began his college football career at the University of New Hampshire in 2019.
As a true freshman, he began New Hampshire's 2019 season as the school's starting quarterback. In 11 games that year, he completed 58.8 percent of his passes for 1,967 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions.
After the school only played one game in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a torn ACL unfortunately prevented Brosmer from playing at all in the 2021 season for New Hampshire.
But he returned from his injury with a vengeance, as he finished the 2022 campaign at the school with a 62.6 percent completion rate, 3,154 passing yards, 27 touchdowns, and only eight interceptions.
Brosmer followed that performance up with an even better season in 2023 when he completed 64 percent of his passes for 3,464 yards, 29 touchdowns, and five interceptions. His passing yardage and touchdown totals led all FCS quarterbacks across the nation in 2023, and his efforts resulted in him earning a First-Team FCS All-American selection that year.
Following Brosmer's impressive success at New Hampshire in 2022 and 2023, he transferred to the University of Minnesota before the start of the school's 2024 season.
In his lone year as the Golden Gophers' starting quarterback, he helped lead the school to an 8-5 record by completing 66.8 percent of his throws for 2,617 yards, 17 touchdowns, and just five interceptions.
Brosmer's performance at Minnesota wasn't good enough to get him selected in the 2025 NFL Draft, but it did result in the Vikings eventually signing him as an undrafted free agent.
That's apparently all the motivation he needed, as he ultimately impressed Minnesota's coaching staff and front office enough during training camp and the preseason to convince them to keep him on the team's final 53-man roster for the 2025 season.
After beginning the year as the Vikings' No. 3 quarterback on the team's depth chart, he was bumped up to the No. 2 spot behind J.J. McCarthy after Carson Wentz was forced to have season-ending surgery to repair an injured shoulder.
Now, with McCarthy injured again, the chances seem high that Brosmer will get to make his first-ever NFL start on Sunday against the Seahawks. If he does start, hopefully he's able to use some of that magic he put on display as a record-setting quarterback in college.
Why Lions’ Aidan Hutchinson didn’t care about breaking Micah Parsons’ contract record
Week 12’s wild escape against the Giants left Aidan Hutchinson thinking more about lessons than style points. Detroit blew coverages, missed tackles, and still found a way to win 34-27 in overtime, a result Hutchinson called the mark of a good team that can survive “all the bad stuff” and still finish. At 7-4 heading into a Thanksgiving showdown with the Packers, the Lions are learning how to win ugly.
That same perspective carried straight into Hutchinson’s contract negotiations. As detailed by ESPN, his camp had a clear choice: take Detroit’s latest offer, heavy on guarantees but shy of Micah Parsons’ massive $47 million-per-year deal with Green Bay, or drag things out in an effort to nudge the market even higher. The second route would have meant public pressure, holdout noise, and likely trade chatter. Hutchinson wanted no part of that.
Agent Mike McCartney told ESPN the talks were sometimes frustrating but never hostile, with both sides committed to staying at the table until they were satisfied.
In the end, the Lions put down roughly $180 million over four years, with about $45 million per season in new money, a figure that trails only Parsons among non-quarterbacks while still locking Hutchinson into Detroit long term.
Hutchinson admitted he understands the unwritten responsibility stars have to push the market, but he was blunt about his priorities. Chasing an extra one or two million or insisting on topping Parsons’ number simply was not worth prolonging the process when he already knew where he wanted to be.
Parsons remains the financial and statistical benchmark. As ESPN’s Rob Demovsky noted, the Packers star has posted at least 10 sacks in five straight seasons, a streak topped only by Reggie White since sacks became official in 1982. That is the rarefied air Hutchinson now lives in competitively, even if he chose not to chase Parsons dollar-for-dollar.
In his mind, securing life-changing guarantees, avoiding drama, and staying exactly where he wanted to play mattered more than winning the headline battle. If the Lions turn this core into deep playoff runs, no one in Detroit will care that his contract came in just below Micah Parsons’.
