Sportsnaut
Undrafted rookie Max Brosmer is making his first NFL start for the Minnesota Vikings today against Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks. While the Vikings are extremely high on Brosmer, whom they signed after becoming enamored with him at the University of Minnesota Pro Day, they never expected the 24-year-old would be starting for them at any point this season.
The Vikings intended for J.J. McCarthy to get as much experience as possible. Yet, the 22-year-old, who’s the NFL’s youngest starting quarterback this season, is out for Sunday’s game as he works his way through a concussion suffered in last week’s loss.
Carson Wentz, whom the Vikings signed just before the season kicked off and has started five games, is out for the season with a shoulder injury that required surgery. Thus, the Vikings will have Brosmer and John Wolford active on Sunday after the latter was elevated from the practice squad.
While the Vikings will have Brosmer and Wolford, they tried to sign a Pro Bowl QB much earlier in the offseason to try to avoid this scenario.
According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Vikings actually made Darnold a similar offer to the one he ultimately signed with the Seahawks. Unlike the three-year deal he received from Seattle, the Vikings were only offering Darnold another one-year contract. That made Darnold’s choice to choose Seattle over Minnesota an easy decision.
“The Vikings did not simply let Darnold walk,” Pelissero said. “My understanding is they actually made a pretty similar offer to Darnold to the one he ultimately accepted (three years, $100.5 million). Now, it was only a one-year commitment, as Seattle’s was on paper. Part of the reason the Vikings weren’t willing to go further than that had less to do with the way Darnold played in the final two games last year than the fact that they believe in their first-round pick a year ago, J.J. McCarthy, who would not have had an opportunity to compete for the job.”
The Vikings made a similar offer to Sam Darnold as the Seahawks did this past offseason, per @TomPelissero. pic.twitter.com/2P00ifrUTu
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) November 30, 2025
The Vikings also reportedly made Daniel Jones a competitive offer to return to Minnesota too. But like Darnold, he saw a better opportunity to join the Indianapolis Colts, where he competed with former No. 4 overall pick Anthony Richardson for the starting job.
Jones has since become the team’s franchise quarterback, but like Darnold was last season, Jones is only playing on a one-year deal. In other words, Indianapolis will face a similar predicament this offseason when they have to pay their new Pro Bowl QB, but that decision should be much easier since Richardson is likely on the way out instead of Jones.
Related: NFL Insider Connects Minnesota Vikings to Six QB Replacements in 2026
More must-reads:
