With the 2025 season coming to a close, one thing overrides everything else for the Minnesota Vikings heading to the offseason. J.J. McCarthy did little to prove he is the quarterback of the future, with multiple injuries in the equation, as his readiness to be the starter was completely miscalculated.
What is clear is that McCarthy will have some level of competition for the starting job in 2026. Maybe that addition will be a big name who completely renders him to the No. 2 spot on the depth chart, but more likely it'll be a veteran who can win the starting job in what should be an equal competition.
If nothing else, that competition for the starting job will tell the Vikings a lot about McCarthy. He was never tested by legit competition to take his job away last offseason, and the potential role that he had in this season's results can't be ignored.
Completely giving up on McCarthy would be the wrong path. But an otherwise ready-to-win roster cannot be subjected to the failures of the quarterback again next season, and everyone knows it.
More evidence of how badly the Minnesota Vikings miscalculated their QB situation
Heading into the regular season finale against the Green Bay Packers, ESPN's Kevin Seifert took a deeper look at the Vikings' plan for McCarthy this season and why it failed.
Keeping Sam Darnold as a one-year placeholder, or protection against McCarthy's inexperience, was never an option. So the Vikings pivoted toward Daniel Jones, who had signed to their practice squad in 2024 after he was let go (at his request) by the New York Giants.
"The Vikings envisioned Jones as a starting-caliber hedge against McCarthy's inexperience and health. Team officials sensed strong positive vibes from Jones throughout the fall and winter, and they believed he would sign their offer, which was competitive with the $14 million deal he ultimately signed with the Colts.
But the Vikings had misread Jones' level of interest in their scheme and culture. He liked the organization and the people in it, but business was business."
With a clear eye on a better chance to be a starter, which he was right about, Jones signed a one-year, $14 million deal with the Indianapolis Colts last offseason. Jones apparently realized McCarthy was the anointed starter in Minnesota, and anyone else would only be seen as, at best, a fallback option.
In the meantime, the Vikings watched as the backup quarterback market passed them by. Veterans like Joe Flacco and Jameis Winston signed elsewhere, leaving few (if any) credible options to back up McCarthy. Aaron Rodgers was never a fit, as Seifert further confirmed.
A trade on Day 3 of April's draft brought in Sam Howell from the Seattle Seahawks. But his ability to beat out Brett Rypien for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart came into question, and after a rough training camp and preseason, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Seifert dove into how that played out, leading to Carson Wentz being signed off the street to be the No. 2 quarterback less than two weeks before the season opener.
"By default, the Vikings had made McCarthy their unquestioned starter. When the Seahawks made veteran backup Sam Howell available via trade on the final day of the draft, (general manager Kwesi) Adofo-Mensah took the deal.
'There's a lot of things we saw in his film that we were excited about,' Adofo-Mensah said at the time about Howell. O'Connell never warmed to him during a rough training camp. At O'Connell's behest, the Vikings replaced him 12 days before the season opener with nine-year NFL veteran Carson Wentz."
Seifert's reporting makes it seem Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell were not in alignment about trading for Howell. But what options were left to secure a backup quarterback with starting experience by that point in late-April?
An assumption that Jones would come back was wrong, and there apparently was no contingency plan to sign a different starting-caliber veteran if he decided to sign elsewhere.
Being wrong about McCarthy's readiness to be even an average starting quarterback, after he had missed his entire rookie season, is one thing. But the Vikings doubled down by not having a fully fleshed-out plan in case he proved not to be ready.
Well, actually, the plan behind McCarthy appears to have been Daniel Jones and "we'll figure it out if not." "Figuring it out" became Howell, then Wentz, and finally Max Brosmer. And over the course of that process, the failures of the Vikings' 2025 quarterback plan then (predictably) extended beyond the casting of their lot with a very raw quarterback who was basically a rookie.