A week after the start of the NFL's free agency period for the 2025 offseason, the big topic for the Minnesota Vikings should center around all of the exciting new players the team has recently added to their roster. Instead, a debate about whether or not the Vikings should sign free-agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been the biggest topic of the team's young offseason.
On Monday, one of Rodgers's old teammates, former Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones, shared his thoughts during an episode of FS1's "The Facility" on whether or not Minnesota would be making a mistake by rolling with McCarthy as the team's starter next season, and his comments might shock a few people.
"Making a mistake? I'm going to say no.
You have a guy in J.J. McCarthy that you drafted 10th overall [in 2024], right? That's a top-10 draft pick, a guy you believed in, right? He got injured, right?
You got the best out of Sam Darnold [last season]. Sam Darnold is gone. Sam Darnold made some solid money with the Seahawks. Now, let's see what our rookie has.
[McCarthy's] on a rookie deal. If your rookie is able to ball on a rookie deal, that is how you're able to build a championship football team.
I love Aaron Rodgers. Y'all know that. But if you have J.J. McCarthy, [he's] a top-10 quarterback that you drafted, who was playing well, I believe he would have beat Sam Darnold out [for the starting job] if he did not get hurt. You have him in the building. Develop him.
...If you bring in Aaron Rodgers, I believe it's going to slow down the development of [McCarthy] because the best development, I don't care what nobody says, is playing."
Minnesota Vikings would be making a huge mistake by not choosing J.J. McCarthy over Aaron Rodgers
Last year, the Vikings used a top-10 draft pick to select a quarterback for the first time in the history of the franchise. Minnesota has been a professional franchise since 1961, so that was a huge deal.
People really think that after the Vikings made the decision to draft McCarthy with a top-10 selection last year, they should continue to sit him as a starter in favor of an aging 41-year-old quarterback who has made more noise off the field during the last three seasons than on it?
No, absolutely not. All of the confidence that Minnesota's front office and coaching staff have built up during the last three years would completely wash away if the team decided to sign Rodgers this offseason and continue to sit McCarthy.
Rodgers is no longer the MVP-caliber quarterback that he was back in 2021. Bringing him in and not taking advantage of McCarthy's cheap rookie contract is something that a desperate franchise would do.
But when it comes to the Vikings and Rodgers, there's only one member of this group that is currently desperate, and it's not the team that wears purple and gold.