The Aaron Rodgers free agency saga will ultimately boil down to where the QB wants to play perhaps the final season of his Hall of Fame career, but his final options will come down to a decision by the Minnesota Vikings.
Rodgers is the No. 1 free agent target of both the New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, but he won’t give either team an answer until Minnesota decides whether it’s worth bringing him into the fold alongside second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
“Here’s what you need to know. The Vikings are having discussions about what they want to do at quarterback and if they want Rodgers,” Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported via X on Friday, March 14. “Rodgers is giving them time and waiting to hear from Minnesota. The Vikings have yet to make a decision. We all wait.”
Vikings’ Call on Aaron Rodgers Will Hinge on J.J. McCarthy’s Future, Super Bowl Aspirations in 2025
The decision for Minnesota is going to come down to whether the Vikings are willing to push back McCarthy’s elevation to the starting role another season.
That decision is going to come down to whether the franchise believes Rodgers can carry what appears to be a Super Bowl roster outside of the QB position all the way to the promised land in 2025.
“There’s still a possible curveball here. My understanding is that the Vikings have at least been entertaining the possibility internally of what it would look like to add Aaron Rodgers into this quarterback room,” Kevin Seifert of ESPN said on “SportsCenter” Wednesday. “And the idea would be: you have a 14-win team, you have the reigning coach of the year in Kevin O’Connell, you have an All-Pro receiver in Justin Jefferson, offensive and defensive lines that have been upgraded here in free agency, and also a pretty great defense with Brian Flores. So you drop Aaron Rodgers into that mix and potentially you have a Super Bowl favorite for 2025.”
Aaron Rodgers to Vikings Is Polarizing Topic Around NFL
Rodgers will turn 42 years old late next season and is coming off a disappointing two-year stretch with the New York Jets, another team that thought it was perhaps a quarterback away from a Super Bowl run upon trading for Rodgers ahead of the 2023 campaign.
The difference between that Jets team and this Vikings team is that Minnesota won’t have to give anything up in trade to acquire Rodgers, won’t have to invest huge money in him on a multiyear contract and will have the option of switching to McCarthy if things start to go south.
The overwhelming sentiment of analysts around the NFL has been that the Vikings shouldn’t pursue Rodgers, though one of the primary factors is the off-field attention the legendary QB tends to draw. That might be a risk Minnesota is willing to take for one season if the front office and coaching staff believe a championship ring is on the table.
