While there are still seven weeks remaining in this 2025 regular season, plus the playoffs, of course, it's really never too early to start thinking about the offseason.
And let's get real here. Suppose the Minnesota Vikings, who fell to 4-6 last week with a heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Bears, drop into 11th place in the NFC standings, and can't beat the rival Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field, they may need to start having some of those offseason conversations a bit earlier than expected.
ESPN recently took the time to opine on each team's biggest needs in free agency and the 2026 draft, also including a "pending free agent to watch." And for Minnesota, Kevin Seifert believes that player is wide receiver Jalen Nailor, who's playing this season on the final year of his rookie contract.
"The 2022 sixth-round pick is on pace for a career year as the Vikings' No. 3 receiver," Seifert wrote. "He has only 20 catches for 318 yards and two touchdowns, but coaches and players have pointed out how frequently he is open. However, the Vikings are paying [Justin] Jefferson $35 million per year, and [Jordan] Addison could be extended this offseason. Unless the Vikings part ways with Addison, who was suspended for the first three games of the season, it's unlikely they commit much to re-sign Nailor."
The logic certainly makes sense, as Addison is eligible for an extension and could conceivably command upwards of $30 million per season. The Vikings could simply exercise his fifth-year option and wait until the 2027 offseason to ink him to an extension, but they might just want to go ahead and lock Addison in as Jefferson's long-term running mate, which, as Seifert mentions, may end up leaving Nailor looking for a new home.
The interesting factor in this scenario is that J.J. McCarthy seems to have developed a nice rapport with Nailor. And for a young quarterback who has obviously had his fair share of struggles early on, parting ways with one of his favorite targets would be a bit of a gamble.
Of the 320 yards Nailor has tallied this season, 215 of them have come in the five games in which McCarthy has been under center. Those 215 yards also represent 25.5 percent of the 842 yards for which McCarthy has thrown this season, which certainly isn't an insignificant figure, especially when you're talking about a WR3 on a team that obviously includes one of the best overall WR duos in the league in Jefferson and Addison.
Now, to be fair, a large chunk of that yardage came in one game, as McCarthy and Nailor hooked up five times on six targets for 124 yards (marking the first 100-yard game of Nailor's career, by the way) and a touchdown in the Vikings' Week 10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. But that just plays into the point, as McCarthy can clearly rely on Nailor when things aren't opening up for Jefferson and Addison.
Is that enough to warrant a new contract for Nailor? Well, that obviously remains to be seen. But it's certainly a situation worth monitoring over the next few months.