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The Minnesota Vikings have to be disappointed with how the 2025 season turned out. Minnesota finished the season 9-8 and missed out on the playoffs despite their winning record. Now the organization has plenty of difficult questions to answer during the offseason. Those include the future of J.J. McCarthy as the team’s starting quarterback.
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah gave a cryptic answer when asked if he wants McCarthy to be the team’s starter in 2026.
“You know, I don’t know that that’s… I want the Vikings to achieve our goals, and I think one of those goals is to make playoff runs and do different things like that,” Adofo-Mensah said on Tuesday, via Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team. “I think he has the character and the ability to be the person to do that for our organization. If I say that in 2026 that kind of binds us into a certain area.”
Minnesota clearly wants to keep its options open ahead of the offseason. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini noted last week that the Vikings are expected to “explore established options via trade or free agency to strengthen its quarterback room.”
That alone makes it sound like McCarthy’s job is not guaranteed.
“The way we set this team up, we build this core to really…give ourselves multiple shot at [the playoffs],” Adofo-Mensah continued. “Because you never know when there’s going to be a year [where] the field’s a little bit wide open and you can make that run.”
The Vikings may not be convinced that McCarthy is the future of the organization. If they were, it would be easy to make a full-throated endorsement for the young quarterback.
Kwesi doubled down on his non-answer before moving on to other questions.
“So that’s what we’re really focused on,” Adofo-Mensah concluded. “Talking about whether it’s this year or next year isn’t really my immediate reflection. It’s my job to really bring that deep, competitive room… to the Vikings.”
Ultimately, Adofo-Mensah’s response tells Vikings fans everything they didn’t want to know.
It will be fascinating to watch how Minnesota approaches the quarterback position throughout the next few months.
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