Aaron Rodgers rumors: Vikings GM endorses J.J. McCarthy again, says Minnesota is built to support 'young' QB

Minnesota might finally be letting this ship sail

For weeks, the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes have revolved around just a few NFL teams, including the quarterback's former longtime NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. With the four-time MVP reportedly inching toward a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, however, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah offered his strongest endorsement to date of J.J. McCarthy, the club's presumptive 2025 starter.

"We talk a lot about leadership and having your quarterback embody what your culture is," Adofo-Mensah told NFL Network of the Vikings' quarterback plans Wednesday. "And [J.J. is] somebody ... that we want to be our starting quarterback for a long time. I wanna chase this thing with [coach Kevin O'Connell], him, myself, the alignment we have together.

"We're gonna look to always add depth to that room to upgrade it," Adofo-Mensah continued, "but we've set out to build a type of team that's very quarterback-friendly to a young player, from a running game, from a defensive standpoint. A lot of the moves we made in free agency was with that in mind."

It's not a far cry from Adofo-Mensah's previous sentiments regarding McCarthy; he recently told reporters at NFL owners meetings that the 2024 first-round draft pick opening 2025 as the team's starter is "the outcome we want and ... the outcome we're headed toward." Yet those remarks were sandwiched between admissions of some interest in Rodgers, in which Adofo-Mensah declined to rule out additional discussions with the 41-year-old free agent.

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O'Connell, meanwhile, confirmed the Vikings evaluated Rodgers at the start of free agency, citing his high level of respect for the former Packers star. He said Minnesota ultimately determined "we wanted to make sure J.J. feels that he's in a position to hit the ground running" with starting reps this spring.

Rodgers, meanwhile, recently conducted a workout with new Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf, prompting Steelers owner Art Rooney II to suggest the quarterback is "headed in our direction" with an eventual deal. Steelers great Ben Roethlisberger also predicted Rodgers will ultimately end up in Pittsburgh, opining this week that the big-name quarterback has been "holding out" hope for renewed interest from the Vikings.