Vikings Meet with Weird Draft Candidate at Combine
While Minnesota Vikings fans debate and discuss quarterback Sam Darnold’s fate and daydream about J.J. McCarthy ascending to the QB1 throne in 2025, the team’s leaders met with University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward at the NFL Combine last week.
Vikings Meet with Weird Draft Candidate at Combine
Naturally, onlookers were left with one central one-word question — Why?
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler delivered the revelation last weekend: “One more interesting nugget that might mean nothing but is at least noteworthy: The Vikings interviewed Cam Ward at the combine.”
The answer to folks wondering why Minnesota would meet with Ward when it already has McCarthy on tap for QB1 duty is quite simple — the Vikings always do this. It’s a perk of employing a former quarterback as the head coach; he has no qualms with meeting the league’s top rookie passers, even if his club is set at the position.
Minnesota used the same strategy in 2022 and 2023 when Kirk Cousins was under contract for megabucks. Think of it as scouting for down the road. In a few years, Ward could hit the open market or be available via trade, and O’Connell can recall in his memory bank the meeting with Ward.
Others, predictably, ran with what-if theories regarding the Ward meeting. SI.com’s Joe Nelson speculated, “What if the Vikings can get a haul of draft picks for McCarthy and be in a position to draft Ward? What if a QB-needy team picking in the top three views McCarthy as a guy who would’ve been the unquestioned No. 1 QB in the 2025 draft had he not been selected 10th overall by Minnesota in 2024?”
“If the Titans, Browns or Giants were willing to pay a premium price and the Vikings think Ward can be as good or better than McCarthy, wouldn’t they at least have to think about it?”
While that theory is intriguing and bold, the Vikings won’t trade McCarthy for a Ward alternative. McCarthy would be the first overall pick in this draft, so Ward can be considered a downgrade.
More realistically, Minnesota needs to fill a few roster holes this offseason, including cornerback, interior defensive line, interior offensive line, running back, and possibly safety. Spending a high-round draft pick on a quarterback like Ward, along with a bizarre McCarthy trade, is a non-starter.
The Vikings were merely doing their due diligence. It’s how the business works, especially with O’Connell in the mix.
The 2025 NFL Draft is 7.5 weeks away.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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