QB2 Decision of Critical Importance for Vikings
It’s obvious the biggest storyline for the 2025 Vikings in OTAs, training camp, preseason games, and into the regular season is J.J. McCarthy’s development as the starting quarterback.
Of lesser magnitude but still of critical importance is the competition between Sam Howell and Brett Rypien for the No. 2 QB job.
QB2 Decision of Critical Importance for Vikings
Given the fact that McCarthy is coming off a major knee injury and hasn’t yet started a regular season game, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell will be paying close attention to the performances of Howell and Rypien in every practice rep and preseason game performance before he decides who will emerge as QB2.
Most Vikings observers assume it will be Howell who has 18 career starts after being a fifth-round pick of the Washington Commanders in 2022. In his most productive season of 2023, he threw for 3,946 yards and 21 TD passes while starting every game but also led the NFL with 21 interceptions and was sacked a league-high 65 times while going 4-13. O’Connell surely can coach him to be more careful in his decision-making, as he did last year with Sam Darnold, who had a similar turnover history.
O’Connell says he liked Howell heading into his draft year and said after the trade, “We think there’s still a lot in Sam’s game to develop, but also see where he can take it within our system.”
The North Carolina product has proven he can handle the backup role after a season as the No. 2 behind Geno Smith in Seattle, where he played in only two games.
The Vikings aren’t heavily invested in Howell after only having to swap fifth-round picks in the deal.
Rypien has to feel he has a decent shot to win the job if he plays well in the coming months and proves he has a better grasp of O’Connell’s offense after being with the team last season.
He has the right genes, as his uncle, Mark Rypien, was a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Washington and the Super Bowl XXVI MVP (played at the Metrodome in Minneapolis). Twenty-eight-year-old Brett Rypien has only four career starts in six NFL seasons, and the Vikings are his sixth NFL team.
Both Howell and Rypien are on one-year, low-cost contracts in the $1.1 million range, which saves the Vikings a lot of money to put towards other positions of need, such as cornerback, if they decide to bring back a player such as Stephon Gilmore or Shaq Griffin.
I learned early in my NFL career from the Vikings’ roster-building efforts during the Bud Grant years that the backup quarterback is a highly valued position and that a player can make or break a season.
Bob Lee was a quality vet who served as the backup when Fran Tarkenton broke his leg in 1977, and Lee led the team to the NFC title game. Ten years later, it was Wade Wilson who took over for the injured Tommy Kramer and directed the tremendous playoff run that included road wins in New Orleans and San Francisco (beating top-seeded Joe Montana and Company) before we narrowly lost in Washington in the NFC Championship.
In my GM days with the Vikings, we had former Eagles Pro Bowl QB Randall Cunningham as the No. 2 behind Brad Johnson entering the 1998 season and when Johnson suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 2, Cunningham took over and won league MVP honors as we went 15-1 and fell in the NFC title game.
Then, during our Super Bowl season with the Titans in 1999, former Steelers Super Bowl quarterback Neil O’Donnell started five games when Steve McNair was out injured and went 4-1, keeping us on pace for 13 wins and ultimately securing a Super Bowl berth behind McNair.
Neither Howell nor Rypien has the pedigree of the backup quarterbacks I just mentioned, but a year ago, we would’ve said the same thing about Darnold before he had a career season working with O’Connell, QB coach Josh McCown, and the Vikings’ outstanding supporting cast of skill position players on offense led by Justin Jefferson.
And whoever is the No. 2 QB should have a much better offensive line to play behind if they do indeed get on the field, compared to what Darnold had to work with, after the Vikings’ free agency and draft moves.
It could wind up as an easy task for Howell to win the No. 2 job, but it wouldn’t be a shock if it ends up going Rypien’s way. And let’s remember ex-Minnesota Gopher QB Max Brosmer signed as an undrafted free agent, and he could emerge as the cheap No. 3 QB this season or as a practice squad player to be developed.
It’s also not beyond the realm of possibility that if O’Connell isn’t satisfied with Howell or Rypien as the vet backup, the team could reach back into the QB market and sign or trade for another QB.
So while the focus is clearly on McCarthy, there’s going to be plenty of attention within the organization on how the rest of the QB depth chart shakes out.
Around the NFL Observations
1. Other quarterbacks are making news this week around the NFL including former Viking Kirk Cousins who has been absent from Atlanta’s OTA sessions as he tries to force the Falcons (who have anointed second-year QB Michael Penix Jr. as the starter) to trade him to a team seeking a starter such as Cleveland where Cousins’ former OC in Minnesota — Kevin Stefanski — is the head coach and runs the offense.
2. Bears second-year QB Caleb Williams is doing damage control at Bears OTAs as he told the media he wants to be in Chicago despite the controversial statements in a recent book that Williams and his father had considered ways to avoid having the Bears pick him No. 1 overall in 2024.
3. And not surprisingly, Russell Wilson took most of the first-team reps at Giants’ OTAs, ahead of Jameis Winston and first-round pick Jaxson Dart. Wilson is certainly going to be No.1 heading into training camp and most likely to begin the regular season but with Wilson’s salary a relatively modest $10.5 million before incentives, Dart could make a push for the starting job, especially if Wilson gets hurt or off to a rough start in the early season games.
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Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
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