Currently, J.J. McCarthy and Brett Rypien are the only Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks under contract for the 2025 season. After the recent departures of Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones, everything appears to be setting up for McCarthy to take over as the Vikings' starting signal-caller, but the team is still in need of a better No. 2 option behind him.
If Minnesota doesn't want Rypien to be its top backup quarterback for the 2025 campaign, then they need to act quickly, as a number of notable free-agent options have already signed new deals with other teams this offseason.
In the last few days, Marcus Mariota, Mac Jones, Jacoby Brissett, Gardner Minshew, Mason Rudolph, and Taylor Heinicke have all found homes for the 2025 season. As more time passes, the pool of free-agent quarterbacks for the Vikings to choose from is getting increasingly smaller.
Could Trey Lance be the next QB to turn his NFL career around with the Minnesota Vikings?
Despite several free-agent signal-callers already signing new contracts this year, there are still a few intriguing options for Minnesota to add as its No. 2 option behind McCarthy for next season.
Guys like Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, Drew Lock, and Cooper Rush still haven't landed new contracts this year. All of these quarterbacks have starting experience in the NFL, and they would be solid options as the Vikings' top backup for 2025, but there's also someone who has been connected to Minnesota in the past and is still available.
After spending the last four years with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, former No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Trey Lance, is a free agent this offseason.
Lance has done very little since entering the league, as he's only appeared in a total of 12 games. But he's only 24-years-old, so he still has time to turn things around and prove why he was such a high draft pick in 2021.
There are plenty of people who have already written off Lance as someone who could eventually emerge as a serviceable quarterback in the NFL. But there was also a good amount of people who felt similarly about Sam Darnold before he put together a career-resurrecting performance with the Vikings last season.
Minnesota reportedly had interest in trading for Lance before he was eventually dealt to the Cowboys in 2023, and now the Vikings can add him to their roster without giving up anything other than cap space.
Will this be the year that the Marshall, Minnesota native actually ends up joining the Vikings, or will the team bring in someone else to enter the 2025 season as McCarthy's backup?