Vikings Misses and Myths: J.J. McCarthy Gone in 2026, Packers Coach’s Wish, a Daniel Jones Trade
With few exceptions, each week brings outlandish or false talking points to the Minnesota Vikings’ doorstep. And sometimes, items just don’t turn out as planned.
Vikings misses and myths take center stage this week, from J.J. McCarthy trade chatter to a Packers coach’s odd wish and a fresh Daniel Jones rumor.
Therefore, our “Nopedy Nope” series thrives every seven days, keeping readers abreast of the goofy stuff in the Vikings’ orbit.
Here’s this week’s edition.
Vikings Nopedy Nopes for November 23rd, 2025
Talkers that ain’t it.
The Nopedy Nope: J.J. McCarthy won’t be with the Vikings in 2026.
Russini jumped on the Hoge and Jahns Show this week, ready to dig in on the McCarthy topic.
“I think the question we gotta start asking … is J.J. McCarthy going to be a Minnesota Viking quarterback next season? We gotta wonder,” she said.
Up to this point, most of the discussion has centered on whether the Vikings add competition for McCarthy — sign a veteran, trade for someone, or draft another passer — not whether they move on entirely.
Russini added, “I think a lot of us were looking at it like ‘Maybe don’t believe in him just yet.’ Like, it’s fine that you believe in him, but for right now, the way this roster is constructed, it’s built to win. Like, just pay Sam, or go bring in Aaron Rodgers. Bring in someone because J.J. McCarthy is coming off a significant injury, and he just doesn’t have the reps, the practice reps. Forget the game. The practice reps, that’s just such a big risk.”
“But Kevin O’Connell was such a good coach that I think they were willing to roll the dice on it and be like, ‘Alright, he can get the best out of him.’ And they loved what he was about, in terms of the work ethic. All the stuff I heard behind the scenes like of J.J. in the summer was just like, he’s blown the doors off the coaching staff and even the players.”
Worth remembering: Russini was the main voice pushing the Aaron Rodgers–to–Minnesota idea. Week after week — sometimes daily — she floated it, and it turned into one of the year’s loudest talking points. When Rodgers and O’Connell later said it was never a serious possibility, Russini claimed she only mentioned it once on a single podcast and that Vikings fans overreacted.
The reality was different. She leaned on that idea repeatedly, enough that it became part of her 2025 identity.
The Verdict: The Vikings almost certainly won’t cut or trade McCarthy during the 2026 offseason. Nopedy nope.
The Nopedy Nope: Packers head coach Matt LaFleur doesn’t like his fans selling tickets to Vikings loyalists.
The Packers’ coach isn’t thrilled about the amount of purple that shows up in his stands.
He told reporters this week, “Hopefully our fans will show up in droves and not sell their tickets to the Vikings fans, because we’ve seen that happen before.”
It’s worth saying out loud: this isn’t a one-way problem.
Anytime you walk into U.S. Bank Stadium for Vikings–Packers, the green-and-gold presence is obvious. When Green Bay scores, the noise is so loud that Vikings fans instinctively look for a flag, because it feels like the home crowd is celebrating a Packers win. That’s how split the building can get.
So while LaFleur’s gripe feels odd to broadcast publicly, there’s a good chance Kevin O’Connell has felt the same frustration in his own stadium — even if he’s not the one venting about it at a podium.
The Verdict: Nopedy nope on LaFleur dictating who sells tickets to. Doesn’t work that way.
The Nopedy Nope: Minnesota should pay two 1st-Round draft picks for Daniel Jones.
Jeff Howe’s idea from The Athletic goes like this: “If the Colts use the franchise tag on Jones and negotiations stall, would the Vikings consider swooping in? It’d cost the Vikings a pair of first-round picks, plus the price of the contract, so they would need extreme conviction in Jones’ potential to lead them to years of playoff success.”
“But with the roster in pretty good shape and a very strong coaching staff in place, the Vikings could withstand the price. It’d be risky for the Colts to let Jones walk after cycling through Philip Rivers, Matt Ryan, Carson Wentz and Anthony Richardson in the post-Andrew Luck era.”
Jones played for Minnesota in 2024, so this would be framed as a reunion — just with an absurd entry fee. Two 1st-Rounders for a quarterback you already rented once.
Howe adjusted his own pitch: “Do they really want to enter the dating pool once again? But what if the sides modified the compensation terms from two first-rounders to a single first-round pick, a second-rounder and McCarthy?”
“That’d help the Colts recoup much of the compensation from the Sauce Gardner trade, and they could continue to try building around McCarthy — all for the price of a free-agent flier on Jones.”
No matter how you slice it, any team coughing up two 1st-Rounders for Jones is off the deep end. Nightmarish.
The Verdict: Nopedy nope on the notion of spending two 1st-Rounders on Daniel Jones. Really?
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