In a perfect world, the Minnesota Vikings will add a quarterback to compete with second-year signal-caller J.J. McCarthy during 2026. But that could be easier said than done.
At least according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio that could be the case.
Florio argued Saturday that if the Vikings are going to add serious competition for McCarthy this offseason, then the team has to be serious about having said competition.
“They want a veteran who’ll compete with J.J. McCarthy. That could make it harder to attract a veteran who’ll want a commitment that he’ll be QB1,” Florio wrote. “Based on McCarthy’s performance and durability in 2025, however, most veteran quarterbacks with reasonable confidence would believe they can win a fair and square competition.
“If they believe the competition will be both fair and square.”
Last offseason, the Vikings weren’t serious about having a quarterback competition. Instead, they allowed Sam Darnold to leave in free agency to essentially open the starting job for McCarthy.
That decision backfired. The young Vikings quarterback struggled in his first year as an NFL starter. Meanwhile, Darnold won the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.
In 10 starts, McCarthy led the Vikings to a 6-4 record. But he completed only 57.6% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Why the Vikings Need Competition for J.J. McCarthy
Although the record wasn’t poor, it’s not exactly a hot take to suggest the Vikings need a quarterback to at least push McCarthy. Not that the Vikings are giving up on the 23-year-0ld, but he clearly failed to live up to his No. 10 overall draft position.
McCarthy’s poor 2025 season is his only year playing in the league. He spent his rookie campaign sidelined because of an ACL injury.
Maybe McCarthy will be better another year removed from the injury. But to seriously push him in a competition, the Vikings will have to convince free agents that they have a real chance to start instead of the 23-year-old in 2026.
Otherwise, the Vikings aren’t going to land a free agent quarterback any better than backup level. Or, the team will be forced to trade for a signal-caller, giving up assets to get real quarterback competition.
Which Quarterbacks Could the Vikings Target?
Florio’s column Saturday dived into where the quarterback carousel could be spinning most this offseason. But he didn’t really mention specific options for each team other than the internal candidates that already exist.
Other pundits have loosely linked the Vikings to potentially available signal callers from Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray. Right now, though, those two quarterbacks are under contract, so it would take a trade to acquire them.
Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are the two biggest-named free agent signal callers. But neither makes a lot of sense for the Vikings.
Rodgers isn’t going to sign with a team where he isn’t starting. Wilson lost his starting job during the 2025 campaign.
Other pending free agent signal-callers next month could include Daniel Jones, Marcus Mariota, Zach Wilson, Tyrod Taylor, and Joe Flacco.
But as Florio argued, those quarterbacks being interested in the Vikings might depend on how likely they feel they could earn the starting job over McCarthy.
Vikings Put on Notice Over J.J. McCarthy Just Weeks Before 2026 NFL Free Agency