Tell me if you've heard this before. Aaron Rodgers is being viewed as a possible starting quarterback option for the Minnesota Vikings to add this offseason.
After spending the 2025 campaign with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rodgers is going to be a free agent again this year, and if he doesn't retire, some believe the Vikings are a perfect landing spot.
Most recently, Yahoo's Andrew Siciliano predicted on the "Inside Coverage" podcast that Minnesota's longtime nemesis will end up joining the Vikings before the start of the 2026 season.
"I'm gonna make my prediction right now.
After listening to Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah [on Tuesday] in their end-of-season presser in Minneapolis after the Vikings failed to make the playoffs, after J.J. McCarthy had an eh kind of season, and when both of them stressed the need for depth, i.e., competition in the quarterback room.
They did this dance last year. My prediction is Aaron Rodgers does not retire; he is a Minnesota Viking next year."
Aaron Rodgers signing with the Minnesota Vikings would not mean the end of the J.J. McCarthy era
If Minnesota signs Rodgers this year, they're not bringing him in to be a backup or compete for the starting job with J.J. McCarthy. Rodgers would only join the Vikings if he was guaranteed to be the team's starting quarterback for next season.
So, if this actually happens, some might think it would be a sign that Minnesota would be giving up on McCarthy. But letting the 22-year-old quarterback take a step back and learn from the sideline for a season or two might be exactly what he needs to succeed in the future.
Some might not believe this, but Rodgers is someone who McCarthy could actually learn a lot from. When Rodgers began his career with the Green Bay Packers, he spent the majority of his first three seasons on the bench.
So, if anyone knows how to further their development without actually playing, it's him.
Even if Rodgers stuck around with the Vikings for the next two seasons, McCarthy would still only be 24-years-old by the conclusion of the 2027 campaign, which would be the same age that current Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was when he was selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Around this time last year, Rodgers signing with Minnesota seemed impossible, and those who doubted it turned out to be correct. But with him being a free agent again this offseason and McCarthy struggling in 2025, Rodgers following the path of Brett Favre and finishing his NFL career with the Vikings seems a whole lot more believable this time around.