When the Minnesota Vikings’ offseason kicked off, as immediately as January, onlookers wondered what the organization would do at quarterback, facing a decision of promoting J.J. McCarthy, re-signing Sam Darnold, or keeping Daniel Jones just in case as a “patchover” quarterback.
The Vikings promoted J.J. McCarthy this offseason — but a new revelation uplifts the full quarterback plan runs deeper than most folks know.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah ultimately chose the first option, nominating McCarthy as his QB1 and later trading for Sam Howell during the 2025 NFL Draft.
Vikings True QB Plan Clarified by Albert Breer
Breer published an article this week about takeaways from NFL minicamps, but for the Vikings, the piece served as a detailed look back at Minnesota’s offseason.
He wrote, “That’s with a young core made up of Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, Dallas Turner and, they hope, McCarthy. If Sam Darnold or Daniel Jones had come back (the Vikings tried on both), those would’ve been, essentially, one-year deals to give the team some insurance with a 14-win group returning.”The reason they didn’t go after Rodgers was that getting him, conversely, would’ve been hitting the pause button on making McCarthy their quarterback for a year. Which underscores the most important part of this — they won’t be asking the world of McCarthy. He can just go play quarterback, which is the way you usually see young guys at his position win.”
Sam Darnold + Daniel Jones as Insurance — Not Starters
Until this week, some Vikings fans still believed the franchise wanted Darnold back as the QB1, with the false understanding that Adofo-Mensah intentionally low-balled Darnold, causing him to choose the Seattle Seahawks over the Vikings.
Per Breer, that simply isn’t true.
Along with Jones secondarily, Minnesota’s brass explored re-upping with Darnold as an insurance policy in case McCarthy, for example, fell injured again. McCarthy tore his meniscus last offseason, ending his rookie season
Aaron Rodgers Clarity
Breer also slipped in the comment about Rodgers, who allegedly pitched Minnesota for a one-year run at the Super Bowl. Rodgers will turn 42 this season, and the purple team has a roster ready for Super Bowl contention.
J.J. McCarty as the Plan All Along
Listen, McCarthy served as the plan from the moment Adofo-Mensah used the 10th overall pick on him in 2024. Unless he presented himself horribly behind the scenes — he did not and has done the opposite, in fact — there was no reason to dink around with Darnold, Jones, or Rodgers in 2025
