Vikings Make Final Call on J.J. McCarthy Amid Aaron Rodgers Buzz

 
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Quarterback J.J. McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings have their quarterback of the future.

And, as it turns out, they had him all along.

Minnesota chose officially on Wednesday, March 19, to bow out of the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes, in which they were the frontrunners for the four-time MVP’s services. Tom Pelissero of NFL Network broke the news via social media.

“The [Vikings] have rejected multiple trade calls on J.J. McCarthy, telling other teams they’re moving forward with him as their quarterback, sources say,” Pelissero posted. “The team plans to add a veteran. But they’re not pursuing Aaron Rodgers at this time. McCarthy now enters the offseason as QB1.”

 
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GettyGreen Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur (left) speaks with Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell (right) following an NFL game.
Minnesota’s call to pass on Rodgers and roll with McCarthy is a bet on youth over experience and a clear preference to focus on the medium-term and long-term future of the club rather than the short-term.

The fact remains that McCarthy is 22 years old with zero regular-season NFL experience, but he will take the reins for a 14-3 team with a dynamic offense that was a single victory shy of the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs last season.

The argument for Rodgers, who will turn 42 years old in December, was entirely short-term and based around the idea that the Vikings may be able to compete at the top of the conference with Rodgers under center and head coach Kevin O’Connell building a system around him.

That said, Rodgers has a reputation for fighting coaches on offensive scheme decisions, including head coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers. LaFleur and O’Connell come from the same coaching tree that includes Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers and Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams.

Minnesota didn’t say so and no reports have included this detail, but it is feasible to speculate that the Vikings may have been nervous about bringing Rodgers into O’Connell’s system for those reasons.

 
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GettyQuarterback J.J. McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
A bigger concern voiced by several NFL analysts, however, was what the addition of Rodgers might mean for the development and ultimate future of McCarthy.

There was speculation from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk in early March that McCarthy, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 draft, might ask for a trade if Minnesota brought back Sam Darnold on anything other than a one-year bridge deal. If that was, in fact, on McCarthy’s mind regarding Darnold, there is no reason to assume it wouldn’t have been a consideration for him had the Vikings chosen to add Rodgers.

However, there should be no call now for McCarthy to ask out, as the Vikings have clearly made him the priority on a team that is perhaps as well suited for a rookie quarterback (or at least one with no regular-season snaps under his belt and entering his second year) as any in recent memory.
Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group's family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible