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Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio warned the Minnesota Vikings that they will have to convinced free agents the team is prepared to have a fair competition with QB J.J. McCarthy.
In a perfect world, the Minnesota Vikings will add a quarterback to compete with second-year signal-caller J.J. McCarthy during 2026. But that could be easier said than done.
At least according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio that could be the case.
Florio argued Saturday that if the Vikings are going to add serious competition for McCarthy this offseason, then the team has to be serious about having said competition.
“They want a veteran who’ll compete with J.J. McCarthy. That could make it harder to attract a veteran who’ll want a commitment that he’ll be QB1,” Florio wrote. “Based on McCarthy’s performance and durability in 2025, however, most veteran quarterbacks with reasonable confidence would believe they can win a fair and square competition.
“If they believe the competition will be both fair and square.”
Last offseason, the Vikings weren’t serious about having a quarterback competition. Instead, they allowed Sam Darnold to leave in free agency to essentially open the starting job for McCarthy.
That decision backfired. The young Vikings quarterback struggled in his first year as an NFL starter. Meanwhile, Darnold won the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.
In 10 starts, McCarthy led the Vikings to a 6-4 record. But he completed only 57.6% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Dave Holcomb is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb
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