The Green Bay Packers know who their quarterback is. But when it comes to the Minnesota Vikings? Things are up in the air.
The Vikings took J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick in last year’s draft and watched their plans go up in flames with a season-ending knee injury. Sam Darnold took over and led Minnesota to a 14-win season but he left to sign with the Seattle Seahawks in free agency. Aaron Rodgers got involved and the Vikings have had their own personal quarterback carousel that has seemingly landed back on McCarthy.
But the 22-year-old’s comments on Tuesday suggest it isn’t that simple and the Vikings are clearly lost at quarterback as they head into the 2025 season.
J.J. McCarthy reveals the Minnesota Vikings haven't told him he's the No. 1 QB, and he's "happy they didn't."@heykayadams | @jjmccarthy09 pic.twitter.com/RCRz412ROM
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) March 25, 2025
J.J. McCarthy Reveals Vikings Haven't Committed to Him as 2025 Starter
McCarthy appeared on FanDuel’s Up & Adams show on Tuesday and discussed his expectations for the upcoming season. When host Kay Adams asked McCarthy when he found out he would be QB1, McCarthy made the shocking revelation that the Vikings haven’t told him that he’s the starter yet.
“Um, they haven’t told me,” McCarthy said. “I’m happy they didn’t because I’m trying to earn that every single day. I never want that to be given to me. It’s such a privilege and opportunity to give me that chance and I’m just going to make the most of that every single day.”
These comments could be read in a few different ways. The first has an element of competition. ESPN’s Kevin Seifert explained that it’s been 227 days since McCarthy has been involved in a football activity since tearing his meniscus in the Vikings preseason opener last season and they probably want to see him in live practices before handing him the keys to a Super Bowl contender.
McCarthy is also playing in a golf tournament in Mexico this week and is back over 200 pounds, which are good signs that the rookie is returning to health.
But the comments are different from the ones we heard from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who said the Vikings turned down several trade calls on McCarthy and that he entered the offseason at QB1. But he also stated the team planned to add a veteran and they’re not pursuing Rodgers at this time.
The last three words are why this is a story. The Vikings were connected to veteran Ryan Tannehill last week as a potential backup (and perhaps a contender for the starting job) for McCarthy. Rodgers visited the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday and did just about everything except sign a contract, presumably leaving him waiting by the phone for McCarthy to fail.
The Vikings haven’t said much publicly about the situation and McCarthy’s comments show that nothing is set in stone. Perhaps it’s something that could play out over the course of OTA’s and training camp but it leaves the quarterback situation of one of the Packers’ biggest rivals up in the air.