Vikings Rumors for You Know Who Are Back
If you were around for Minnesota Vikings offseason adventures in March or April, the idea of Aaron Rodgers leading the purple team for a season parked itself front and center for several weeks. Minnesota brushed the idea aside for J.J. McCarthy, but because McCarthy has played so poorly in 2025, Rodgers rumors could return in the snap of two fingers rather soon.
Vikings rumors about you-know-who — Aaron Rodgers — are back again, stirring speculation about what Minnesota might consider at quarterback next.
That’s right. Rodgers-to-Minnesota rumors could become a thing, depending on how his time in Pittsburgh winds down in January.
Aaron Rodgers to Vikings Rumors Have Returned
Minnesota may need an extra quarterback in 2026, and the Rodgers idea has resurfaced.
Welcome Back, Aaron Rodgers Rumors
Former Green Bay Packers quarterback — a different one — Kurt Benkert joined Kay Adams on The Up and Adams Show Tuesday, dusting off the Rodgers-to-Minnesota take.
“Maybe he goes to Minnesota for his last hurrah, who knows. I think there’s so many quarterback needy times right now. You’re seeing it all across the league. He’s still playing at a really good level. He’s not playing bad by any means. The Vikings would probably love to see Aaron there right now, especially on the deal that he took,” Benkert said on the show.
“I think it could have looked very similar to what Matthew Stafford is doing. Not to that extent, but an efficient style, really good in the red zone. Justin Jefferson would have eaten a lot more than he is right now. Kevin O’Connell, how he calls plays, he needs a guy like Aaron that’s consistent with his feet, pinpoint accuracy. I think the Vikings are missing that with McCarthy right now.”
And this is basically the same argument that arrived in March 2025.
Actually Realistic This Time
Unlike eight months ago, when the Vikings had adamantly claimed that McCarthy was the right guy for their offense, Rodgers to Minnesota in 2026 could make sense.
The team is unlikely to give McCarthy the boot altogether, but in the offseason, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will almost certainly bring in another legitimate quarterback to compete with McCarthy for the QB1 job or serve as a bonafide contingency plan.
Minnesota didn’t want a contingency plan in 2025. In 2026, it will be mandatory.
And it would be a no-brainer that Rodgers would win a summer QB1 competition against the current iteration of McCarthy.
Other Possible QBs
Assume Rodgers retires, returns to Pittsburgh, or doesn’t interest the Vikings.
These options would be available to Adofo-Mensah:
Free Agency:
- Carson Wentz
- Case Keenum
- Gardner Minshew
- Jake Browning
- Jimmy Garoppolo
- Joe Flacco
- Kenny Pickett
- Malik Willis
- Marcus Mariota
- Mitchell Trubisky
- Russell Wilson
- Teddy Bridgewater
- Tyrod Taylor
- Zach Wilson
Trade:
- Kirk Cousins
- Mac Jones
- Will Levis
- Kyler Murray
- Anthony Richardson
There’s also the draft — Minnesota will probably have a Top 15 pick at worst — if the club’s owners trust Adofo-Mensah to draft another quarterback.
Rodgers’ Age Will Be a Concern
Finally, any upcoming Rodgers-themed rumors will need the age caveat. Rodgers will turn 42 in about a week, meaning he’d be in his age-43 season by the time the Vikings got a hold of him.
At any minute, the future Hall of Famer could encounter an age-related decline, and Minnesota would just have to be leery of it. That’s a real phenomenon.
Otherwise, the chances of Rodgers turning purple are much greater in 2026 than they ever were in 2025.
Steelers May Not Want Rodgers Back
Some fragments of Steelers-themed media have tired of Rodgers.
Behind the Steel Curtain‘s Eric Hassel wrote this week, “Rodgers’ passer rating is really good at almost ninety-eight percent, but his total quarterback rating or QBR is around forty-four percent, which is not good. Let’s just call it what it is. Another statistic that I would argue is as important as any of the aforementioned is this: How does Rodgers compare to his peers?”
“Rodgers is slightly above the middle of the pack, as it were, statistically speaking. So, not great, but not terrible, but the 2025 Steelers need a great Aaron Rodgers. After all the offseason moves we made, I think it’s fair to say that we were in the ‘win-now’ mindset. On one hand, the Steelers are failing Rodgers, but the flip side of that coin is that Rodgers is failing the Steelers. If we believe that to be the case, the decision for the Steelers heading into the 2027 season is an easy one.”
Rodgers is the NFL’s 17th-best quarterback per EPA+CPOE through 12 weeks.
Hassel continued, “Roll with Mason Rudolph and either draft or sign a quarterback to compete with Will Howard for the backup spot, or potentially mortgage the future to draft a quarterback who will ostensibly become our next franchise quarterback. As someone who witnessed the last pass Terry Bradshaw threw to the drafting of Ben Roethlisberger, I can tell you the decades between those two franchise quarterbacks were long and not very joyful.”
“One thing is certain. We cannot re-sign a soon to be forty-two year old quarterback in the hopes that he will bring us to the promised land.”
Rodgers also wouldn’t break the bank in Minnesota; he’s earning $13.65 million this season.
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