The Minnesota Vikings enter the offseason with uncertainty at quarterback after a turbulent first year with J.J. McCarthy as the starter. With the team eager to compete immediately, the bigger question is whether the Vikings are willing to give their former Top 10 pick more time to develop.
McCarthy had a passer rating of 72.6 with 1,632 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions in 10 games in 2025, per StatMuse. It’s because of this production that speculation linking the Vikings to different QBs continues to emerge.
Furthermore, McCarthy’s inconsistent production and injuries affected Justin Jefferson’s numbers, who barely had over 1,000 receiving yards and two touchdowns. As a result, many question whether Jefferson is still the best wideout in the NFL.
Nonetheless, Jefferson fired back, claiming he’s still the best at his position, but kind of took an indirect dig at McCarthy in the process.
“Obviously, I have to depend on a lot of people for me to get that ball,” Jefferson said on the Feb. 5 edition of “First Things First.” “So if I don’t have an elite quarterback that’s throwing me the ball the entire year, then it’s a little bit difficult to be in those conversations.
“Having a young quarterback that’s still learning the game and still learning his potential in this league, you have those difficult seasons, which I had this past year. So I still think that I’m still [the] No. 1 [wide receiver in the NFL].
“I still think that no one in this league can cover me man to man. That’s without a doubt. So my confidence level will always be high, and I always will feel that I’m number one in my eyes.”
Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy Gets Positive Outlook
These remarks are another instance of Jefferson expressing his frustration over how the 2025 season unfolded for the team, making it clear that the quarterback play contributed to missing the playoffs.
Nonetheless, Aaron Jones Sr. is giving a promising outlook on McCarthy, as the Michigan Wolverines product looks to have an offseason that prepares him better for his third NFL season.
“When you’re young, you’ve got to learn how to win,“ Jones said on the NFL Network. “That’s a process. We went through that process and got over that period. I would say the best part is we stuck together. We believed in each other and we got it going just a little too late. We still could have — had we won that Chicago game — we would have been in the playoffs, and it would have looked a lot different.
“But we all came together, and that was the most important part. We set the foundation leading into next year. We have all the pieces we need, and J.J. is going to continue to develop, and we’re just going to continue to get better. But we were one game short, and there’s a lot of ball out there left for us to play.”
Aaron Jones on Seeing Sam Darnold Walk
Still, on the Feb. 5 edition of “Night Cap“ from radio row, Jones received a question about how different the season would be if Sam Darnold were in Minnesota.
“I felt like we had everything we needed (last year), but we are not GM’s, that’s outside of us,“ Jones said. “When you got a group of guys behind a QB, and he wants to stay somewhere, I think you should try to make it work.”
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