Aaron Rodgers made the Vikings an offer they could refuse.
Rodgers pitched his former NFC North rivals with the idea of a championship pursuit and mentorship for J.J. McCarthy before pᴀssing the baton to the 2024 first-round pick, according to Sports Illustrated.
The Vikings pᴀssed on the offer and the future Hall of Famer remains unsigned, although he’s projected to land with the Steelers.
“When the four-time MVP reached out to the Vikings, with the idea of making a one-year run at a Lombardi and tying it to being a willing mentor for McCarthy, the team felt it had to listen,” Albert Breer wrote. “The proposition, of course, was different than the other two — they’d be jamming the pause ʙuттon on the idea of playing McCarthy, rather than generating compeтιтion and multiple quarterback options.”
Rodgers’ future remains one of the top storylines of this NFL offseason, although it’s not for a lack of effort from both him and potential suitors.
The Giants waited before moving on for Russell Wilson, while the Steelers and Rodgers are still in a dance with the draft eight days away.
This report indicates that if Rodgers had his druthers he would be playing for the Vikings after years of tormenting them, just like a fellow Packers legend before him, Brett Favre.
It doesn’t hurt that on paper, the Vikings seemingly have a better situation than the Giants and Steelers coming off a 2024 season in which they went 14-3 before falling apart in a wild-card round loss to the Rams.
The Vikings lost Sam Darnold to the Seahawks and there are questions about McCarthy’s post-injury readiness.
But Minnesota opted to go with the youth movement.
“In the end, faced with all that, the Vikings found themselves emboldened to give McCarthy the runway to seize the job, the staff the opportunity to build the offense for him, and see how that looked at the end of the spring,” Breer wrote. “So the Vikings pᴀssed on Rodgers, pushing their chips in on a 22-year-old.”
It’s possible Rodgers could wait until after the NFL draft to sign with his next team, since new suitors could possibly emerge if they don’t draft a quarterback.
There has been speculation about the Saints in light of Derek Carr’s potentially season-ending injury, but they’re the favorites to land Shedeur Sanders at No. 9 in an anticipated draft slide.
