The Minnesota Vikings were one of the best teams in the league last season, going 14-3 and making the playoffs, but they missed the postseason this year with a 9-8 record.
This cycle, unfortunately, isn’t foreign to the Vikings, who went 13-4 in 2022, before a 7-10 year a season later. Minnesota knows it only takes a couple of the right moves to get back in the mix, and one of those moves is identifying the right quarterback.
The Vikings believed they found their quarterback, drafting J.J. McCarthy with the 10th-overall pick in 2024, and moving forward with him as the guy in 2025. After one season with McCarthy at QB1, there are now questions about whether he’s the guy moving forward, and Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn’t do much to put a stop to those questions on Tuesday.
When asked if he wanted McCarthy to be the starter in 2026, Adofo-Mensah gave a long-winded answer to essentially say Minnesota is open to anything.
"I want the Vikings to achieve our goals, and I think one of those goals is to make playoff runs and do different things like that. I think he has the character and ability to be the person and do that for our organization. If I say that in 2026, that kind of binds us into a certain area.
The way we've set this team up, we built this corridor, really like we've always talked about, give ourselves multiple shots at it, because you never know when there's going to be a year where the field feels a little bit wide open and you can make that run.
So, that's what we're really focused on talking about. Whether it's this year or next year isn't really my immediate reflection. It's my job to really bring that deep, competitive room that we've talked about to the Vikings."
Minnesota Vikings non-committal to J.J. McCarthy as starting quarterback for 2026
The general manager’s immediate answer was that, first and foremost, he wants Minnesota to achieve its goals. Adofo-Mensah said McCarthy has the character and ability to help the Vikings reach those goals as the team’s quarterback.
But the GM said he wasn’t necessarily binding the team to McCarthy as the starter in 2026. He ended things by saying it’s his job to bring a deep, competitive room to the Vikings.
In other words, McCarthy could still be the long-term answer for the franchise, and he could remain as the starter in 2026; however, he will have some competition in the quarterback room if Minnesota has its way. Based on how the 2025 season went, it’s hard to disagree with that approach.
McCarthy started 10 games, going 6-4 while completing 57.6 percent of his passes for 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He also rushed for 181 yards and four additional scores.
However, between his injuries and inconsistent play, many have questioned if he’s holding the Vikings back, and if he’ll ever develop into the kind of quarterback Minnesota needs.
Ultimately, this past season was only McCarthy’s second season in the league, and his first as a starter. He could end up being a great quarterback in the league and for the Vikings, but it doesn’t seem like a guarantee right now that he’ll be Minnesota’s Week 1 starter in 2026.