Inside The Vikings

Russini says Aaron Rodgers is still on Vikings' radar, guesses he'll end up in Minnesota

  • it's apparently impossible to kill the Aaron Rodgers-to-Minnesota Vikings rumors.

Joe Nelson

Jan 5, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) celebrates his touchdown pass to New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams (17) (not pictured) during the fourth quarter of their game against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
Jan 5, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) celebrates his touchdown pass to New York Jets wide receiver Davante Adams (17) (not pictured) during the fourth quarter of their game against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images / Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images
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There may come a day in the future where Dianna Russini looks like the smartest person in the football world. Why? Because the respected NFL insider isn't backing down from the Aaron Rodgers-Minnesota Vikings connection.

After Tom Pelissero reported Wednesday that the Vikings are not pursuing Rodgers and instead going into the offseason with J.J. McCarthy as QB1, Russini acknowledged that Minnesota isn't ready to commit to Rodgers while claiming the Vikings haven't definitely decided they are 'in' or 'out' on the 41-year-old four-time MVP.

On Thursday, when Dan Patrick asked her to "guess" where Rodgers ends up, Russini hesitated before guessing Rodgers winds up with Minnesota. She made it very clear that she's not reporting anything, only throwing out her educated guess. Here's the back-and-forth moment between her and Patrick.

Patrick: If you had to bet though, just guess.

Russini: You know insiders hate this stuff. I hate guessing. Because you know, bobby the aggregator out there, it's like headline, 'Russini says Rodgers to Seattle, Sam Darnold's getting cut.'"

Patrick: Do you want to do just a guess on any of those topics, so like the Giants or the Browns or the Steelers, with the Vikings, with retirement, with whatever one. Just give me one guess. Not a report. Again, this is not a report by Dianna Russini. This is not a report.

Russini: This is a guess! This is a guess! I feel like we have to just emphasize this.

Patrick: Yes.

Russini: I think Aaron Rodgers is going to be a Minnesota Viking. Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Before being pressed to guess, Russini said the Vikings are not out on Rodgers, they've just tabled the discussion for the time being.

"The fact that the Vikings have now made the decision to table this, to say, 'OK, we want to give J.J. McCarthy an opportunity this spring,' tells me that Kevin O'Connell has hitched his wagon to J.J. McCarthy and believes that this player is the future of the Minnesota Vikings, that he is the absolutely best option over let's say a future Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers. So, serious discussions happened, but Kevin O'Connell came to the decision that J.J. McCarthy gives the Vikings a much better chance at winning than Aaron Rodgers does at this point," Russini explained.

She continued: "To me, the biggest takeaway was the Minnesota Vikings have very strong believe and confidence that J.J. McCarthy is the guy. Yet, they're still going to discuss Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers is still on their radar. They need to learn something this spring. I don't know what that is, but they need to see something. I think they want to see where he's at physically, where he's at mentally. There's a lot in play here before they really make their decision that they're officially done with Aaron Rodgers. There's no in or out on Rodgers, it's just for right now."

Russini also thinks Rodgers is "willing to roll" the dice and wait in free agency for the Vikings to make a permanent decision.

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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Joe Nelson has more than 20 years of experience in Minnesota sports journalism. Nelson began his career in sports radio, working at smaller stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before moving to the highly-rated KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. While there, he produced the popular mid-morning show hosted by Minnesota Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen. His time in radio laid the groundwork for his transition to sports writing in 2011. He covers the Vikings, Timberwolves, Gophers and Twins for On SI.

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