The Minnesota Vikings are executing what some NFL experts would call a risky quarterback transition in 2025. They allowed veteran Sam Darnold to leave for greener pastures in free agency with every intention of handing the starting job to second-year pro J.J. McCarthy. As it turns out, that might not be the biggest risk the team's front office is taking with the game's most important position.
The options behind McCarthy on Minnesota's depth chart are struggling mightily during the preseason. Their issues were illustrated perfectly in the team's 20-12 loss to the Patriots in their second preseason game. Only managing to produce 273 net yards against New England represented an abject failure for all three of the Vikings' quarterbacks who saw action.
Vikings have big problem with lack of QB depth behind J.J. McCarthy
Sam Howell is expected to be the team's primary backup but he could not get Minnesota's offense out of the mud against New England. He only completed one of his five passes. Ironically, he completed as many passes to the Patriots as he did his own players, as evidenced by his one interception on the game.
Brett Rypien fared a bit better than Howell, but only throwing for 83 yards on his seven completions did not represent setting the Patriots' secondary ablaze. He's got a decent amount of pro experience under his belt which is a positive and a negative for his case to be McCarthy's backup.
On one hand, he has the required experience to execute a conservative game plan with some measure of competence. The other side of his experience is that Rypien has already tried and failed to show the NFL he's capable of being anything more than a low-end backup.
Max Brosmer got a lot of chances to shine against the Patriots at the end of the game but he also turned the ball over via an interception. He did throw for 156 yards but his inaccuracy shows he has a long way to go before he's ready to play meaningful NFL snaps.
Add it all up and the Vikings have all of their eggs in the McCarthy basket at the moment. That's a big risk with a young quarterback who is effectively in his rookie season after missing most of last year due to injury.
This may not be the season where Minnesota wants to go all-in on McCarthy as the leader of their team but they need a better insurance policy in the event that he flops or suffers another injury. The current options are nothing more than emergency signal-callers who can't be trusted to win regular season games.