Vikings Rumors: QB Battle This Summer, the Caleb Williams Tidbit, Sam Darnold
The NFL is nearing its only dry period of the calendar — the dead zone after mandatory minicamp in June but before training camp in late July.
We’re in the business of keeping tabs on Vikings rumors for the general public, and these are this week’s.
In the meantime, a handful of Minnesota Vikings-themed rumors are out in the open, and VikingsTerritory monitors those weekly.
Have a look.
Rumor: The Vikings QB2 battle will feature an honest-to-goodness competition between Sam Howell and Brett Rypien.
Behind J.J. McCarthy, most fans believe — or believed before this week — that newly acquired veteran passer Sam Howell would seize the QB2 job this summer rather handily. The assumption is not that grandiose; Howell threw for nearly 4,000 passing yards and over 20 touchdowns as a full-time starter in 2023.
However, Darren Wolfson of KSTP hopped on SKOR North airwaves this week and pumped the brakes on Howell as the QB2 no-brainer. Wolfson said, “I’m telling you, that’s a legit battle. Brett Rypien v Sam Howell. To think it’s a 100% foregone conclusion that Sam Howell is the next man up? No. Hold your horses. That’s a legit battle, July into August, Howell versus Rypien.”
Wolfson is not a hot-take merchant, so Howell v. Rypien this July and August could be real.
Rumor: Caleb Williams wanted to join the Vikings leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, but he’s also not mad about his current employer, the Chicago Bears.
Indeed, Williams reportedly told his father after meeting with the Vikings in 2024, “I need to go to the Vikings.”
But according to him, that was one of many thoughts about his eventual landing spot. The second-year quarterback has no qualms about ending up in Chicago.
Williams told reporters this week about the Minnesota draft tidbit: “Yeah, I had a good visit at the other place, Minnesota, with Kevin O’Connell. Good staff and all of that. Obviously, he just won Coach of the Year award, and things like that. So, obviously, good staff and things like that.”
“Something that keeps getting lost, something that keeps getting, I think, not being addressed the way it needs to be, is the fact that I went on that visit first, came here, and then after I came here. I went back home, talked to my dad, and all of the things that were supposed to be these big things that everybody’s been talking about recently — one, never happened in the sense of they were all thoughts, they were all ideas.”
In fairness, his head coach from 2024, Matt Eberflus, no longer works for the Bears. This season is a fresh start with Ben Johnson in charge.
Williams concluded about Chicago picking him first overall 13 months ago, “After I came on my visit here, it was a deliberate answer and — deliberate and determined answer — that I wanted to come here.”
Ben Johnson also provided thoughts: “It’s come to my attention that the quarterback’s been out in the media over the last week. And just to get out in front of that a little bit, I just wanted to say I wasn’t here last year, and so I can’t speak too much in terms of what it was like before he got here and when he got here last year.”
“But from my four months on the job, he’s been outstanding to work with. And we just are focused on getting a little better every day. … He’s his own man. He’s going to be treated as such. I think we’re both really looking forward to turning the page on years prior and focusing on the here and now.”
Therefore, the Williams-Vikings rumor goes like this: He did want to play for Kevin O’Connell — who doesn’t? — but he’s not disgruntled in Chicago.
Rumor: Sam Darnold could be back in Minnesota down the road.
Darnold hopped on a podcast this week and said he keeps in close contact with his former Vikings teammates.
He mentioned, “You’ve gained trust with everybody, and then all of a sudden you’re gone, but that friendship, those relationships, they don’t just go away. I’ve stayed in contact with quite a few teammates, former teammates in Minnesota, and stayed in touch a little bit with Kevin O’Connell. Obviously, he’s got a pretty busy schedule — as do I — obviously getting ready for next year. But it’s been good, just being able to stay in touch with some of those guys,”
“The biggest thing for me is to not think about replicating a season like that. I think that it’s really starting from square one, what can I do to put myself in a good position every single day to just get better? It’s a cliche, but it’s a cliche for a reason. I’m going to continue to try to get better every single day, as are all my teammates.”
Darnold will get a bonafide audition in Seattle, but if that doesn’t pan out, he is the kind of player who could end up back in Minnesota in 2026 or 2027 as a QB2. After all, the man won 14 games as a Viking last season.
The bridge was not burned.
You must be logged in to post a comment.