Per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, the Minnesota Vikings’ potential interest in signing free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers is currently “on hold” while 2024 first-round draft pick J.J. McCarthy “works through the offseason” coming off the full meniscus repair
that sidelined him for all of his rookie campaign.
On Monday, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell addressed what he referred to as “a pretty detailed plan for how we want to go about” adding at least one more quarterback to a room that features McCarthy and longtime backup Brett Rypien.
“We’ve been patient and really evaluated a lot of different ways we could potentially do that,” O’Connell explained, as shared by Seifert and NFL Media’s Kevin Patra. “There’s potential trades and free agency and still the draft. We’re going through a process of just figuring out who is the player that we want to solidify that room with knowing that J.J. and Brett are here working, starting today, and eventually we’ll complete that room and still have a competitive situation in there, however you look at it.”
Since March, O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah have delicately declined to name McCarthy their 2025 Week 1 starter after it was learned that Rodgers was interested in playing for the club that went 14-3 this past season. During a recent appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Rodgers said he is “open to anything” as reports suggest the Pittsburgh Steelers are the only club desperate to sign him this spring.
On Monday, the Vikings were mentioned as a potential landing spot for unsettled Atlanta Falcons backup Kirk Cousins. Cousins lost his starting job to 2024 rookie Michael Penix Jr. this past December, and the veteran played well under O’Connell from September 2022 up until the 36-year-old suffered a torn Achilles in the fall of 2023. However, Cousins has a full no-trade clause attached to his contract and may not want to relocate his family for the second straight year just to serve as a backup with his former employer.
For now, O’Connell and Co. are hoping McCarthy will cement his status as Minnesota’s QB1 by the time mandatory minicamp practices wrap up in June.
“He’s done a phenomenal job [with] what I would really call [those] invisible habits, invisible work that he’s done when really nobody’s been watching, in many ways solidifying and finalizing his rehab,” O’Connell said about where McCarthy is at this stage of the offseason. “Then, on into a phase where he’s really been able to push it on the field from a throws [standpoint] and working his technique and fundamentals and then ultimately the mental side of it as well.”
As long as Rodgers remains unsigned, outsiders may continue to believe he thinks there’s some chance that O’Connell will decide the future Hall of Famer is the better option for a win-now team than an unproven 22-year-old who has never taken a meaningful snap as a pro. For what it’s worth, it’s unclear when the Steelers may want to know of Rodgers’ plans before they go in a different direction.
