The 2025 Minnesota Vikings will begin the first days of OTAs next week, an early milestone in the offseason. After finishing with 14 wins last year, the Vikings have one of the league’s toughest schedules. Therefore, they must have their quarterback situation sorted out well before their September 8 kickoff.
Going into the offseason, many expected Minnesota’s front office to find a veteran to mentor a young J.J. McCarthy. The theory was to have the elder statesman come in, frame it as a quarterback competition, and have McCarthy favored to take over — with a little added insurance just in case last year’s 10th-overall pick wasn’t quite yet ready to take the reins.
Instead, the Vikings have unambiguously turned the keys over to McCarthy as their Day 1 starter. And, as we now know, his NFL regular-season debut will be on Monday Night Football under the bright lights of Chicago’s Soldier Field.
While the Vikings have fully committed to McCarthy as their starter, they did bring in other quarterbacks during the offseason, often with undefined roles. It creates a strange situation in which their quarterback plan is firmly established and full of questions.
Kevin O’Connell is last year’s Coach of the Year winner and has become a quarterback whisperer. He currently has four guys in his QB room. So what, exactly, does each player offer the Vikings?
Everything starts with McCarthy
McCarthy is the undisputed QB1. Most fans and pundits didn’t think his road to being a starter would be quite this wide open, yet here we are. After last season’sinjury, the only thing that might have changed in his play style is his mobility.
He wasn’t known to be the most mobile QB to start with, but he makes up for that in accuracy and arm strength.
KOC set McCarthy up to succeed starting in 2023, before the young QB was drafted, by focusing on the interior offensive line and strengthening the run game, something McCarthy was used to in Michigan. He only attempted nine passes in the college football championship game.
Meanwhile, the Vikings made a Day 3 trade during this year’s draft to bring Sam Howell into the fold.
Howell had early opportunities after the Washington Commanders drafted him in the fifth round in 2022. He started every game for the Commanders in 2023, when he led the league in both interceptions and sacks. After that season, Washington decided to go in adifferent direction, trading Howell to the Seattle Seahawks, where he backed upGeno Smith.
In his one game with the Seahawks, Howell went five for 14 for 24 yards in a loss to the Green Bay Packers. He comes to the Vikings in what could be an interesting situation. He could theoretically compete with McCarthy to start early in the season, or be pushed all the way to third-stringer.
O’Connell may be the perfect coach for Howell because he doesn’t give up on young quarterbacks. Howell’s lone year as a QB1 was rough, but Sam Darnold also had some notoriously tough outings.
Howell is one of the more mobile quarterbacks in this room, which might be his most interesting trait. He’s the primary contender for the main backup role — a battle he could absolutely lose — yet has the potential to be a fringe starter if McCarthy isn’t quite ready to go.
The Max Brosmer factor
Max Brosmer is an undrafted rookie out of Minnesota who has brought some under-the-radar buzz to the quarterback room. KOC has been high on the former Gopher ever since he first watched him perform at the U of M’s Pro Day last year.
Although Brosmer was not draft-eligible during that Pro Day, he was eligible in 2025. KOC was in attendance again to watch the 24-year-old.
Brosmer is in the conversation for a backup role with the Vikings this season, but still needs a strong camp to make the 53-man roster and avoid the practice squad.
Although he went undrafted, Brosmer’s pre-draft resumé shows he has a high football IQ and can attack zone coverages. However, he struggles when the play breaks down because he’s not particularly mobile.
For now, though, his ceiling remains unknown, while the whole league has seen Howell’s floor, so Brosmer could become the primary backup. More likely, though, is that KOC gets the most out of Brosmer by sticking with him and mentoring the QB that caught his eye in 2024 as a development project for the years ahead.
Brett Rypien returns
Brett Rypien is the only other name one might recognize on the roster at quarterback. Rypien has only played in 10 games while starting four in his six seasons in the NFL. He has mainly been on the team’s practice squad, and it feels as though that’s where he will trend again this coming season.
As the oldest quarterback in the room at 28, his football IQ and ability to be prepared for a sudden activation to the main roster make him an asset to this young room.
The question for Rypien is, do the Vikings see a future with him? Or will he find himself on another team at some point during the season?
Minnesota’s QB situation is paradoxically fairly assured and full of questions. We have a decent sense of the overall plan, but it remains to be seen how KOC and quarterbacks coach Josh McCown can maximize the talent in the room.