2 Backup QB Options for Vikings Wiped Off the Board
Unless another injury rattles the summer, J.J. McCarthy will take the QB1 title for the Minnesota Vikings in 2025, a man drafted by the franchise a year ago to lead the charge into the future.
2 Backup QB Options for Vikings Wiped Off the Board
McCarthy tore his meniscus last August, ending his entire rookie season and thrusting veteran passer Sam Darnold into action. Minnesota later won 14 games, outperforming its win-total forecast twofold.
And most believe that McCarthy could or should have a dependable quarterback behind him on the depth chart. But as each day passes, the alternatives dwindle, and such was the case late last week when Case Keenum joined the Chicago Bears and Trey Lance signed with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Case Keenum to Bears
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted last Thursday, “Veteran QB Case Keenum is signing a one-year deal worth up to $3 million with the Chicago Bears, per source. Keenum now will help mentor Caleb Williams in Chicago like he did for CJ Stroud in Houston.”
Onlookers didn’t perceive the Bears as a landing spot for Keenum, mainly because the other QB2, Tyson Bagent, is a fan-favorite. The Vikings, more realistically, represented a more logical destination for Keenum. Minnesota needs a QB2, and Chicago does not. It’s just that the Bears’ front office disagreed.
Keenum’s choice of Chicago is also a little strange. He’ll fill QB3 duties as a Bear unless Bagent gets demoted, whereas, in Minnesota, the relationship would’ve involved a QB2 job title.
The Vikings evidently didn’t express interest in the 36-year-old.
Trey Lance to Chargers
The following day, Schefter posted to X, “ESPN sources: former Cowboys and 49ers QB Trey Lance reached agreement today on a one-year deal worth up to $6.2 million with the Los Angeles Chargers. Lance and Taylor Heinicke are now behind starting QB Justin Herbert.”
Lance never danced too vigorously in the Vikings’ QB2 rumor mill, but the longer the purple team went without signing somebody, the odds of Lance to Minnesota increased.
Most Vikings fans know Lance somewhat intimately because he was born in Marshall, Minnesota, and played college ball at North Dakota State. His career has not taken off since the San Francisco 49ers drafted him as the third overall pick in 2021.
He’ll own a QB3 role — like Keenum — in Los Angeles behind Justin Herbert and Taylor Heinicke.
The Existing Option
If the regular season started today, Minnesota would trust Brett Rypien with QB2 duty.
Last month, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said, “We’re happy with our quarterback room. Obviously we’re going to talk a lot about J.J. McCarthy, but Brett Rypien, who’s someone we brought in last offseason, who we thought made a lot of great decisions, quick decision-making, processing, a better athlete than people give him credit for, an accurate passer. So, we’re excited about him.”
There’s a world where the Vikings value Rypien more than most pundits and fans.
Who’s Left at QB2 on the Open Market
In theory, Minnesota could swing a trade for a backup passer as it did in the summer of 2022 for Nick Mullens. Players like Will Levis, Sam Howell, or Aidan O’Connell might make sense. Most of those players would be attainable for menial draft capital.
And via free agency, the docket is basically down to four players: Joe Flacco, Drew Lock, Ryan Tannehill, and Carson Wentz.
It’s unlikely that four teams need QB2s at this juncture of the offseason. So, one day soon after the draft, Minnesota will sign Flacco, Lock, Tannehill, or Lock, and that’ll be that.
Does QB2 Really Matter?
Vikings fans intensely focus on the QB2 because, throughout the team’s history, the backup quarterback always seems to find his way onto the field — and prospers.
The 2024 campaign was no different, as Sam Darnold began scripting his reclamation story in the Twin Cities.
But one must wonder: does the backup quarterback’s identity really matter? Head coach Kevin O’Connell is known as a “quarterback whisperer,” and that reputation alone should carry trustworthiness.
Put it this way: O’Connell probably knows best.
Vikings Must Have a Plan
No matter what, Minnesota hasn’t forgotten or abandoned the QB2 post. The team has been mindful about his compensatory draft pick situation, and signing a backup passer after the draft will not wipe out a 4th-Round pick next year. Minnesota could sign Flacco, for example, today, and that would cancel next year’s compensatory pick — probably a 4th- or 5th-Rounder — from Daniel Jones’ free-agent departure to Indianapolis.
Adofo-Mensah is likely waiting until after the draft to get his man at QB2, and then fans’ anxiety can subside.
Putting time and effort into wondering about the QB2 seems a little futile.
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