3 New Vikings Rumors You’ll Want to See
VikingsTerritory chronicles Minnesota Vikings rumors each weekend, covering the mill from start to finish.
Three hot Vikings rumors are gaining traction — including a key position battle for Donovan Jackson, an early rivalry situation for J.J. McCarthy, and a wide receiver name worth watching.
You can read yesterday’s rumors here.
Sunday, July 27th’s batch includes Donovan Jackson’s apparent roster battle, J.J. McCarthy and the Bears, and a wild Jauan Jennings trade theory.
Here’s the second and final purple rumor mill of the weekend.
Vikings Rumors for July 27th, 2025
All the theories twisting in the Vikings rumor orbit.
Rumor: Donovan Jackson is not the for-sure starter at left guard and must win a camp battle over Blake Brandel.
Jackson, Minnesota’s 1st-Rounder this offseason, has not automatically been given the LG job next to Christian Darrisaw. He must earn it outright and dethrone last year’s starter, Blake Brandel, according to Vikings.com.
Lindsey Young wrote this week, “The Vikings will evaluate competition at left guard between returner Blake Brandel and 2025 first-round draft pick Donovan Jackson. Brandel worked at right guard in place of Fries, and Jackson lined up at left guard with the first group during the offseason program.”
“The Vikings are closer to seeing their plan for the offensive line unfurl.”
So, this thing is not a done deal. There’s a small chance, albeit minuscule, that Brandel gets the nod for Week 1 at the Chicago Bears. Most have assumed that Jackson has already won the spot. Nope.
Rumor: The Bears thought long and hard about drafting J.J. McCarthy in 2024.
The Athletic‘s Alce Lewis sized up J.J. McCarthy’s coming-soon debut in the NFL this week but also delivered a 2024 draft surprise.
He noted, “Still sipping a hot coffee at Starbucks, Holcomb recalls another moment from the offseason. He was hosting a quarterbacks camp for middle-school-aged boys, and one of the attendees was Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. During a changeover at the camp, Holcomb approached Poles and introduced himself. They found their way to the subject of McCarthy.”
Greg Holcomb is a quarterback skipper for middle schoolers and even helped McCarthy along the way.
Holcomb, via Lewis, then delivered the Bears factoid, “He was talking about how much the Bears loved J.J. And said to me, ‘I don’t think people realize how close we were to possibly taking him.’ Obviously, they love, but I thought that was interesting.”
While it must not have been very serious — the Bears were consistently linked to Williams throughout the entire 2024 draft lead-up process — Chicago evidently considered picking McCarthy, which would’ve thrusted the draftboard into chaos.
Rumor: The Vikings should swing a trade for San Francisco 49ers wideout Jauan Jennings.
Jennings may be traded.
And Sam Ekstrom from the Locked on Vikings podcast thinks that Minnesota should be his new home.
Ekstrom laid out the case last week: “Love Jennings the player. Third in contested catches last year, over 62%. He’s a 60% contested-catch guy in his career. Big slot. Creates versatility. He was 12th in yards per route run last year. So, hyper-efficient. I love Jennings. He’s 28, not that young, not a lot on his last year of his deal.”
“I don’t think it would require an immense amount to get the trade done. The extension is the issue. I would trade Jalen Nailor in the deal. I would give them Nailor, I would take Jennings, and I would try to sign him to a two-year $25 million deal, and use void years and try to fit that in.”
Ekstrom said the Vikings could ship Jalen Nailor and a conditional 4th-Round pick to The Bay for Jennings.
He added, “Try to make that work. I would frontload it, I would pay more this year, so it’s less against the cap next year, because you’re tighter against the cap. I think it’d be a huge upgrade, to be honest with you, and I think it’d be a little superfluous to have Nailor, and Jennings, and Tai Felton, and more.”
“Then, you get a little crowded. I would give up Nailor in the deal and give San Francisco something back. Someone to fill a bit of that void.”
This idea is fascinating, but is severely unlikely to materialize.
You must be logged in to post a comment.