The Vikings' remarkable history of winning with impromptu starters — Darnold was the eighth veteran QB to start a playoff game in his first year with the team — has meant they rarely reach quarterback crossroads at logical junctures. Dennis Green drafted Daunte Culpepper after two different veterans (Randall Cunningham and Jeff George) had helped the Vikings go 25-7 the previous two years; the Vikings signed Cousins after knee concerns led them to give up on two QBs (Bridgewater and Bradford) they’d acquired with first-round picks while ditching a third QB (Keenum) whose NFC Championship game run they deemed an aberration. Darnold’s surprising turn, oddly enough, fits neatly into the history of a team that’s crafted a .550 win percentage with a series of jagged lines at quarterback. So does the choice they’ll make about whether to turn things over to their promising 22-year-old or run it back with last year’s surprising reclamation project.
Their financial plan certainly suggests they’ve been waiting on McCarthy. Justin Jefferson’s cap number spikes to $38.987 million in 2026, while four other players (Jonathan Greenard, Brian O’Neill, Christian Darrisaw and T.J. Hockenson) have cap numbers over $20 million that year. While the escalating salary cap, which could be over $290 million next year, should still give the Vikings plenty of room to operate, they’ve got $188 million tied up in only 26 players in 2026.
They’d benefit from draft picks supplying capable cheap labor, but they’ll have only four this year. While there’s room to make it work with a veteran QB, their approach seems fit for McCarthy to emerge and the team to spend on the roster around him.
Four of the last eight NFC champions were teams with QBs on rookie contracts; the Chiefs and Bengals reached Super Bowls before Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow signed their lucrative extensions. Maximizing their time with a cost-effective QB seems like a shrewd Plan A for the Vikings, who have major needs at expensive positions like cornerback and offensive line. They might decide to do just that, with a reasonable insurance policy, for 2025.
As usual, though, their quarterback situation makes for riveting theater because it’s rarely simple. The coming week could deliver one of the major plot points for the story of their 2025 season.