The Minnesota Vikings continue to consider adding Aaron Rodgers to the quarterback room, and the cost of doing so has now become clear.
Michael Silver, Dianna Russini and Alec Lewis of The Athletic authored a joint report on Saturday, March 15, which noted the approximate salary Rodgers is seeking.
“Rodgers, in the wake of his release by the New York Jets, is seeking an annual salary in the same general range as [Sam] Darnold’s — though that’s not expected to be a major stumbling block,” they wrote.
Darnold, who led the Vikings to 14-3 season and a playoff berth in 2024, inked a three-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks last week worth $100.5 million total. That averages out to $33.5 million per year.
As The Athletic noted, paying Rodgers that amount for one season shouldn’t be an issue based on Minnesota’s favorable salary cap picture heading into 2025 and the various tools the front office can use to manage the cap hit it would incur.
The bigger concerns are how many years Rodgers wants on a deal and how that might impact second-year Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Vikings Can Justify Paying Aaron Rodgers Like Sam Darnold for 1 Season
GettyQuarterback J.J. McCarthy of the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota must be cautious in committing any guaranteed money to Rodgers beyond the 2025 campaign, given that he will turn 42 years old in December and is coming off two years in New York in which he missed essentially an entire season due to injury (2023) and led what was though to be a playoff-caliber roster to a 5-12 record (2024).
Rodgers finished the campaign with nearly 3,900 passing yards, 28 TDs and 11 INTs, and his experience would presumably be a leg up for the Vikings early in the season (and potentially the playoffs) over McCarthy who has yet to take a regular-season snap in the NFL. But there is no telling yet how Rodgers might mesh with head coach Kevin O’Connell or the top players in what is an elite offensive skill unit in Minneapolis.
Beyond that, Rodgers’ recent injury history also makes paying him anything guaranteed beyond next season a major risk for Minnesota to assume. Potentially worse than that, though, is the message paying Rodgers for multiple years would send to McCarthy.
Vikings Risk Alienating J.J. McCarthy by Signing Aaron Rodgers to Multiyear Deal
GettyFormer Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold.
If the Vikings were gonna guarantee a veteran quarterback a couple of years on a contract, it would have made more sense to do so with Darnold. He is 14 years Rodgers’ junior and had a better season in a system that Rodgers will have to learn should he join Minnesota.
The franchise didn’t do that, and also let Daniel Jones walk to the Indianapolis Colts — all presumably to elevate McCarthy into a starting role as soon as possible.
It is unclear how the 22-year-old QB feels about the talk that Rodgers is waiting on a decision from Minnesota before he accepts or declines offers from the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants. However, the Vikings selling him on learning under Rodgers for one year — and potentially taking the reins in 2025 if Rodgers struggles or suffers an injury — would probably be much simpler than relegating McCarthy to a backup QB role with no hard end date set beforehand.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk predicted earlier this month that McCarthy would request a trade if the team inked Darnold to a multiyear contract. Doing so with Rodgers at his age and coming off the season he just had with the Jets would presumably be worse.
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