Vikings Expert Discusses Outside Perspective on Minnesota Offseason

The Minnesota Vikings might be the team of the offseason after an interesting season in 2025. The team finished 9-8 after a 14-win season with former quarterback Sam Darnold.

Needless to say, Darnold and the Vikings have had a stark reversal of fortunes in the last 365-plus days. Darnold took over the quarterback position for the Seattle Seahawks and led the team to the Super Bowl in 2025. The Vikings went with unproven quarterback J.J. McCarthy and saw their playoff window slam shut.

Depending on who you talk to, McCarthy was not awful on the whole. Some have discussed all the big throws the quarterback made in clutch moments. Still, there was a significant gap between his performance and the 35-touchdown, 4,300 yard season we saw from Darnold in 2024.

Now Minnesota is tasked with rebuilding what it had with Darnold, though the quarterback did not have the same playoff success in Minnesota as he did in Seattle. The race for the top free agent quarterback is on for the Vikings and the NFL is taking notice.

Adam New of Vikings Territory discussed the search for help at the quarterback position. He shared what others are thinking of where the team stands.

"CBS Sports ranked the Vikings No. 1 on its list of teams to watch this offseason — the others were the Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans. The big talking point surrounding the Vikings, of course, is what the team will do at QB. With Adofo-Mensah gone, all options remain open.

The focus will be on head coach Kevin O’Connell. With Minnesota not beginning its search for a new general manager until after the draft, this will be viewed as O’Connell’s show. His future in Minnesota likely lives or dies on the upcoming QB decision. Another season where the Vikings are relying on the defense, and they might want to think twice about letting Flores go into the next head coaching cycle.

So how will the Vikings address the quarterback position this offseason? Even if it’s just for the morale of their offensive players, like Jefferson. Minnesota has to bring in a veteran quarterback this offseason to compete with and/or mentor McCarthy. Aaron Rodgers and former Viking Kirk Cousins would meet that mentor role in the final years of their playing days."

Vikings fans will hear nothing of mentoring McCarthy, or at least some of them won't hear it. Minnesota wants results now. We'll see what that adds up to this offseason in their post-2025 acquisitions.