Anyone who watched the Minnesota Vikings’ preseason loss to the New England Patriots on Saturday — or listened to head coach Kevin O’Connell’s postgame comments — can sense the elephant in the room.
The Vikings no longer have depth chart concerns behind starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy — they have an obvious problem just seven days out from roster cut-down day.
Sam Howell failed to solidify his standing as McCarthy’s backup QB against the Patriots, including two days of joint practices at the TCO Performance Center. He started Saturday’s preseason game and finished with one completion and one brutal interception. The performance was poor enough for Alec Lewis of The Athletic to wonder if undrafted rookie Max Brosmer could soon pass Howell on the depth chart.
The Vikings are high on Brett Rypien’s football acumen, and they’d love to continue working with Brosmer, who’s flashed the quick processing ability (and ball security) that O’Connell covets. However, both of those players feel closer to the QB3/practice squad borderline at this juncture, leaving the Vikings in need of options for potential replacements for Howell.
Cleveland Browns created a potential QB solution for the Minnesota Vikings
If the Vikings are indeed in the market for a quarterback, these next seven days will be massive. Teams with unsettled QB situations have already begun naming their Week 1 starters, from the Cleveland Browns with Joe Flacco to the Indianapolis Colts with Daniel Jones.
Cleveland’s decision to start the 40-year-old Joe Flacco over a host of younger players on its roster is telling. The Browns swung an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for former first-round pick Kenny Pickett, but with rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders firmly in the mix, and Flacco officially announced as the starter, the 27-year-old Pickett feels like the odd man out.
FanSided’s Mark Powell recently predicted possible suitors for Pickett, and he listed the Vikings at the top of his list:
"Pickett and Howell have similar amounts of NFL experience and backgrounds. What differentiates Pickett is the meaning of that experience.
Pickett played for a competitive Pittsburgh team that expects to make the postseason every season, even if it leads to a first-round exit. Howell played for Washington and Seattle, and didn't show nearly enough to remain with those franchises. Case closed."
While Vikings fans might scoff at the idea of swapping draft capital for Pickett, he’s actually a perfect solution to their QB2 conundrum.
He was solid as Jalen Hurts’ backup last season in two prominent appearances, including a start against Dallas in Week 17 with Hurts sidelined due to a concussion; the Eagles won that game 41-7, and Pickett finished with two touchdowns (one rushing), no turnovers, and a QB rating of 119.6.
What would Kenny Pickett cost the Vikings in a potential trade?
A big reason the Vikings settled for Howell this offseason was due to the NFL’s compensatory pick formula. GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah plays the free agency game at a high level, and as a result, the Vikings are slated to hold nine selections in the 2026 draft, per Over the Cap's comp pick projections.
That means a Day 3 pick swap — for instance, one of Minnesota’s two fifth-rounders for Pickett and a seventh? — could be a deal that makes sense for both sides. The Browns currently hold two seventh-round selections in the 2026 draft, and the original trade that sent Pickett from Philly to Cleveland was for QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-rounder.
Pickett will play on an expiring contract in 2025 and is due just $2.6 million, per Spotrac, so cash shouldn’t be an issue here. Really, it comes down to the player and how O’Connell views the potential fit.
Say what you will about Pickett, but he’s shown some toughness and moxie in his previous stops in Pittsburgh and Philly. He’d offer some perspective behind McCarthy as a former young franchise QB — with the added bonus of being a reliable option for the Vikings if an injury causes McCarthy to miss game time.
Given Howell’s struggles to take control of a job he’s been competing with no one but himself for, Adofo-Mensah should be picking up the phone.