ESPN Predicts Vikings to Select QB in Draft
No credible voice has endorsed a Minnesota Vikings quarterback draft pick through a couple of months of the 2025 event’s lead-up.
ESPN Predicts Vikings to Select QB in Draft
Until now.
Courtesy of ESPN’s Benjamin Solak, there’s now a recommendation for the Vikings to explore a late-round passer in addition to employing J.J. McCarthy, another young signal-caller, at the top of the chart.
Solak predicted “quarterback fits” per team this week, and for Minnesota, Ohio State’s Will Howard got the nod.
ESPN’s Ben Solak Says Will Howard for Vikings
In his elaborate article, Solak connected Howard to the Vikings in Round 6 and wrote: “Ideally, the Vikings go QB earlier in this draft — but Howard in Round 6 is a pretty square deal. He had 43 starts over four seasons at Kansas State and a national championship campaign with Ohio State. With the Buckeyes, he looked the part of a poised and trustworthy veteran. I like Howard’s mobility, but he isn’t a one-read-and-scramble escape artist in the pocket.”
“He’ll sit in there, bounce through progressions and look for the correct throw. He can break a tackle or two as well; he’s big and doesn’t shy away from contact. Howard can access all the levels of the field and is generally safe with the football, but he doesn’t see it fast and will get hoodwinked by coverage rotations at the snap.”
Minnesota has just one other passer on the current depth chart after McCarthy — veteran Brett Rypien, who the team’s coaching staff and general manager have spoken highly of in the last few weeks.
Solak added, “He needs an offense like the one Kevin O’Connell runs, as it protects the quarterback from high processing demands. At Ohio State, Howard picked his poison on isolation routes with elite college receivers in Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka. In Minnesota, he could do the same with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.”
“If he hits, I could see Howard having a Jacoby Brissett-like career in the NFL. He might even get the designated sneaker role in Minnesota behind McCarthy!”
The First Take of Its Kind
Mock drafts aren’t hard to find in March and April, and most focus on the offensive and defensive trenches for Minnesota, along with some defensive back help, plus some running backs in the mid-rounds.
A quarterback of any kind is a brand new ball of wax.
Onlookers don’t expect Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to select quarterback — they believe it will be a seasoned veteran after the draft — but kudos to ESPN for stepping up and writing boldly.
No QB2 for Vikings Right Now
The aforementioned Rypien is the only passer not named McCarthy on the roster. Having no veteran support lined up in April is a little odd.
Last month, long-time QB2 Nick Mullens followed former Vikings assistant quarterback coach Grant Udinski and tight end Johnny Mundt to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mullens won’t play for the Vikings in 2025.
Daniel Jones, a member of the 2024 practice squad, also skedaddled to the Indianapolis Colts, where he’ll compete for a starter’s job against physical freak Anthony Richardson.
So, that leaves McCarthy and Rypien — and nobody else.
Rookie QB Unlikely Because of So Few Picks
Minnesota’s interest in drafting a quarterback this cycle is unlikely for two reasons. Foremost, Adofo-Mensah has just four picks on the docket. He traded about three others to the Jaguars for the draft pick that nabbed pass rusher Dallas Turner last year.
The draft piggybank is bleak.
Moreover, McCarthy might need a dependable, experienced partner in the quarterback room, not a green newcomer like Howard.
On the whole, though, stranger things have happened than Minnesota selecting Howard in Round 6.
A QB2 after the Draft?
If not Howard, then who? Well, after the draft, the Vikings can sign a backup quarterback without fear of tarnishing the 2026 compensatory draft pick formula. Signing Drew Lock, for example, would cost Minnesota a 3rd- or 4th-Round pick in 2026 if he signed on the dotted line today.
Lock, Carson Wentz, Joe Flacco, and Ryan Tannehill represent the most likely veteran options on the open market. Via trade, Minnesota could explore Sam Howell, Will Levis, or Aidan O’Connell, to name a few.
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