Vikings Rumors Grow Louder around Mac Jones, Darren Waller, Aaron Rodgers
The Minnesota Vikings will start clearing cap space soon to sign existing and new free agents, and the rumors swirl in the meantime. Minnesota continues its first offseason without Kwes Adofo-Mensah in charge since 2021.
Minnesota’s offseason buzz is widening fast as QB and pass-catcher options get kicked around.
Sunday’s rumor mill focuses on Mac Jones’s trade availability, Darren Waller as a TE option, and, of course, Aaron Rodgers, who refuses to retire or announce a return for Year No. 22.
Vikings Front Office Faces Decisions at Quarterback and Tight End
Vikings rumors with one week to go before free agency.
Rumor: Mac Jones may be traded after all.
The Athletic’s Matt Barrows isn’t fully convinced that Mac Jones is off the table.
He wrote last week, “The 49ers have stated that they don’t intend to trade Jones, who, after all, proved extremely valuable in 2025 and has a cap cost of only $3.1 million in 2026. Still, circumstances are aligning to create an offer that might be hard to refuse.”
Barrows sees a real market forming around Jones after his 2025 performance.
He explained, “The first is that Jones didn’t just look like a starter in 2025 but someone who could lead an imperfect team, which is what any potential suitor would be. The win at the Rams — on a short week and in prime time — came at the height of the 49ers’ injury woes.”
“They played without George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, and with Jones battling through a PCL injury. The second reason to trade for Jones is that the league just watched another Shanahan reclamation project, Sam Darnold, thrive on the national stage.”
Jones has made his stance clear this offseason. He views himself as a QB1 and intends to compete for a starting job.
Barrows added more context about the Shanahan pipeline: “Darnold, who signed a one-year deal with San Francisco in 2023, served as Brock Purdy’s backup that season. The following season, he led the Minnesota Vikings, who run a similar offensive system, to a 14-win season.”
“In 2025, he signed with the Seattle Seahawks and last week stood before the city with the Lombardi Trophy in his right hand, a beer can in his left and a wide grin on his face.”
If Barrows is on to something, the Jones sweepstakes for the Vikings is still alive, and Minnesota can basically restart the Sam Darnold tale, plucking a former 1st-Rounder from the 49ers and hoping to empower him as a QB1.
Rumor: The Vikings’ new assistant coach worked with Darren Waller in Miami, furthering the case for Waller in Minnesota.
Palm Beach Post’s Joe Schad wrote this week on Waller’s free agency, “Darren Waller is interested in playing this year. Probably doesn’t make a ton of sense of Miami at the moment, Sullivan says.”
Translation: Miami’s new general manager doesn’t see Waller in the card for his club in 2026.
Then, Underdog’s Josh Norris retweeted the Schad article on X, mentioning, “Frank Smith — who Waller is close with — was hired by the Vikings as their assistant head coach.”
This connection immediately sparked a plausible theory linking Waller to Minnesota.
The Vikings hired Smith on January 31st as their assistant head coach after he spent four seasons as Mike McDaniel’s offensive coordinator in Miami. Smith fills the role vacated by Mike Pettine, who partially retired due to philosophical differences with Brian Flores.
Minnesota hopes Smith can improve its running game, given that Miami’s productive ground attack, led by Devon Achane, has led the way over the past two seasons.
Furthermore, there is a direct link to Waller: Smith coordinated Miami’s passing offense last season, which included Waller. After leaving the Giants following the 2023 season, Waller joined the Dolphins in 2025 and displayed red-zone potential before injuries hampered his season again.
Should the Vikings need tight end assistance heading into the season, the new connection with Smith makes Waller a potential and logical option.
Rumor: Aaron Rodgers remains in play as a Vikings QB1 option in 2026.
SI.com’s Conor Orr issued one bold offseason prediction per team for 2026, and for the Vikings, he put Rodgers in the saddle.
Orr opined, “The Vikings will bring in Aaron Rodgers to ‘compete’ with J.J. McCarthy. While it may be just a hunch, I don’t see Rodgers walking away from the chance to pass Peyton Manning on the NFL’s all-time touchdown list.”
“And I don’t see Kevin O’Connell walking away from the chance to add meaningful depth to his roster. While Rodgers and Zach Wilson ended up not being the developmental bridge the Jets had hoped, McCarthy must realize he’s in a similar sink-or-swim situation and can take copious notes.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter also addressed Rodgers-to-Minnesota chatter this week, saying, “The belief around the league, and let’s preface it by saying it is Aaron Rodgers, and so there are never any absolutes, and things can change like that. But the belief around the league is that he is supposed to give an answer by mid-March.”
“I think the feeling is that he could be back with the Pittsburgh Steelers. If we go back to last year, he wanted to play in Minnesota. That is the interesting one to me, right? I don’t know how Aaron Rodgers feels, I don’t know how the Vikings feel.”
If comments in the Schefter vein keep surfacing, the Vikings will roll through a second straight offseason filled with pretty loud Rodgers speculation.
Schefter added, “And I think the Vikings didn’t want to do it last year because they were being protective of J.J. McCarthy. Do they still feel the same way, or is Aaron Rodgers more in the conversation?”
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: it’s a big waiting game regarding Rodgers’s future, with the Vikings evidently in the mix.
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