There are many ideas about what the Minnesota Vikings should do at the quarterback position for the 2026 NFL season. Whether you believe in J.J. McCarthy to eventually be the guy will dictate how important finding the right player will be.
The Vikings still need to see what they have in McCarthy, but does that mean he should immediately be locked in as the team's starting quarterback next season? Or should he be a backup and take a year to grow and develop before starting again?
There have been plenty of names thrown around about who Minnesota should pursue this offseason. Those names involve quarterbacks like Kirk Cousins, Mac Jones, Kyler Murray, and others who each have pros and cons to joining the team.
Could Russell Wilson come to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2026 NFL season?
FanSided's Austen Bundy recently wrote about three quarterbacks who could come to the Vikings to compete with J.J. McCarthy before the 2026 NFL season.
While Malik Willis and Mac Jones are high-end backups, the third name on the list was a little surprising, since it's familiar to a lot of football fans but hasn't been remarkable lately, at least not in a positive way.
The inclusion of Russell Wilson on Bundy's list is interesting. The 37-year-old quarterback, who has played for the Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New York Giants, would have been a dream for Vikings fans about five years ago, but isn't as exciting in 2026.
Here is what Bundy said about why Wilson is a good fit for the Vikings:
"Wilson would be the QB you bring in as the veteran mentor who can teach McCarthy a thing or two while also reminding him the starter job isn't locked down entirely."
In other words, he's good enough to push J.J. McCarthy without being a serious threat to his job. Fans in Minnesota remember this kind of backup clearly over the years, when the backup for Kirk Cousins was never a candidate to overtake him for the job.
The difference is that Cousins was healthy in Minnesota until close to the end of his Vikings tenure. On the other hand, McCarthy has suffered a variety of injuries that could force the team to seek a more capable player to step in if their 23-year-old quarterback can't play.
To give Wilson credit, he is a Super Bowl champion with a ton of accolades from his time with the Seahawks. His accomplishments are great, but it is highly questionable how much gas he has left in the tank.
As Bundy says, Wilson should be a "last-ditch, Aaron Rodgers ' final-ride option: for Minnesota this offseason. That doesn't mean the team won't need to make that happen, but it's nice to know that it is an option.