Inside The Vikings

What the insiders are saying about Minnesota Vikings' backup QB pursuit

It's not going to be Aaron Rodgers, but Minnesota still needs to add a veteran quarterback.

Will Ragatz

Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center.
Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Aaron Rodgers speculation is finally behind us. NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported on Wednesday morning that the Vikings have rejected trade calls on J.J. McCarthy, are moving forward with the 22-year-old as their starting quarterback, and are not pursuing Rodgers. It's the news the vast majority of Minnesota's fan base has been longing for.

The only way the Rodgers idea could theoretically resurface is if he chooses to wait instead of signing with the Steelers or Giants and McCarthy suffers a setback at some point this offseason. But it feels safe to say there's a 99 percent chance Rodgers will not end up in Minnesota this year.

So what will the Vikings do instead? With Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and Nick Mullens all departing in free agency, they still clearly need to add a veteran quarterback to pair with McCarthy as a backup and insurance plan. They made an offer to Darnold, but it wasn't on the level of what he got to be the unquestioned starter in Seattle. They had significant interest in bringing back Jones and made him a competitive offer, but he chose to sign with the Colts.

"In both those cases, I think the presence of J.J. McCarthy pushed the players out of there," SI's Albert Breer said about Darnold and Jones on the Rich Eisen Show.

According to Pelissero, the Vikings quickly retracted their offer to Jones when they heard he was leaning towards the Colts. If he didn't clearly want to be in Minnesota, they were moving on.

"When they got the sense that Daniel Jones was not committed and convicted, they pulled the offer," Pelissero said on KFAN Radio.

The free agent options out there include Joe Flacco, Ryan Tannehill, Carson Wentz, and Drew Lock. If the Vikings aren't interested in any of those names, they could potentially look to trade for a quarterback who is currently on another team's roster. Quite a few backup-caliber QBs have signed elsewhere already this offseason, but Pelissero doesn't believe any of those were ever potential Vikings targets.

"This idea that hey, the options are drying up and this guy signed here and what are the Vikings going to do, I would just tell you guys again, my words, I don't believe that any of the players who have signed — outside of Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones — I don't believe any of those guys were players the Vikings were targeting to be the veteran quarterback in the room," Pelissero said on KFAN.

"And I don't necessarily know that any of the current free agents, in terms of the other obvious big names that are on the street, I don't know that any of them are what the Vikings' plan is going to be here. There are other avenues that they could pursue."

As far as potential trade options, it's difficult to know exactly what those possibilities might look like. The Athletic's Alec Lewis has mentioned the Raiders' Aidan O'Connell and the Seahawks' Sam Howell, who are both on rookie contracts. But would either even be enough of an upgrade over Brett Rypien — who is the Vikings' only other quarterback under contract at the moment — to warrant parting with a late-round 2026 draft pick?

Then there's the Kirk Cousins idea, which seems unlikely but can't be completely ruled out. Cousins hopes to go somewhere with a chance to start in 2025, but he remains on the Falcons' roster. Would he be open to coming back to Minnesota in a trade, knowing McCarthy is set to be the starter? The Vikings would likely have to eat a good bit of his salary to make that happen, which is why it seems far-fetched.

It'll be very interesting to see what Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings end up deciding. But the most important takeaway from today's news is that as Minnesota moves forward into the next stage of the offseason, this is unmistakably McCarthy's team.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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