We fans are an interesting bunch. Everyone does it their own way too. There are a lot of emotions involved which often times leads to heated discussions. Before this season began, I would say that the majority of fans were expecting better results in terms of wins and losses. The same would be true for the play from our young QB. There were some fans who believed the season would not be as successful due to the inexperience of our QB. Not a lot though (correct me if I am wrong). We are now in the throes of debating if our young QB will be the long term answer. I think that is normal for any team that is relying on a rookie QB and our QB should be considered a rookie as far as play on the field. He does have an advantage in that he got to study the playbook and offense while sidelined last year.
I think the results may have been better had our young QB not missed 7 games this season. There are a lot of comparisons made to past rookie QBs and where they were at after X number of starts. It is only natural but, to me, seems like a bit of a waste of time. It just is not the same for all QBs. They have different backs, receivers, blockers, play callers, etc. That right away dismisses the comparisons for me.
A very good article here that says “NFL quarterbacks do not take any semblance of final shape, on average, until 250-300 drop backs”. It includes a lot of super nerd stats and a comparison to Jared Goff and Josh Allen to support the theory that by the Giants game we should be seeing the real version of JJ.
I have said repeatedly and maybe I should put it in my “byline” …
The team needs to see about two years worth of starts from our young QB before truly making a will informed decision about his long term prospects. The problem with that is that the people in charge might not have the time to absorb unsuccessful seasons while the young QB develops. To me that is the rub.
It’s gonna be a fun ride!
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Vikings Announce Bad News Ahead of Cowboys Game
For the practice session on December 10, the Vikings published their latest injury report, revealing that T.J. Hockenson and Christian Darrisaw are the team’s latest injuries as it begins preparations for the Cowboys game.
When it comes to Hockenson, the veteran tight end didn’t practice due to a shin injury. Meanwhile, Darrisaw, who returned to the Vikings’ offensive line in the Week 14 win over the Washington Commanders, didn’t practice due to a knee issue.
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Ahead of the Cowboys game, former NFL player Kurt Warner stated what he wants to see from the second-year quarterback in these last four games, regardless of whether the Vikings make the playoffs, to show he can be the No. 1 guy.
“I think you want to continue to see steady growth,” Warner said on the latest “One on One” published on December 10. “The biggest thing is that you want to try to use these last four games to build into next year. And, you know, that doesn’t mean you’re giving up on this year and you’re not saying, ‘Hey, let’s try to win them all and see if we can get in the playoffs.’
“But the idea is simply, let’s keep getting better. Let’s keep building. Let’s go into the offseason with everybody feeling really good about where we’re at, or in this specific case, let’s get everybody feeling really good about the quarterback that’s in our room and what he can be for us…
“We want him going into the offseason feeling really good that we’re putting him in a position to play his best football and to help us win. And so that, to me, is kind of the underlying thing that you’re trying to accomplish in these last four games: play good football, be competitive.”
Vikings Expected to Cut Ties With $11 Million Starter After Demotion
Kevin Seifert of ESPN on Wednesday, December 10 detailed the recent demotion of Rodgers from starting cornerback to a hybrid role, in which he plays mostly in nickel sets (five defensive backs on the field).
“It has been in the past two games where Rodgers has given way to Jay Ward, who is a cornerback but also mostly a safety in their base defenses,” Seifert reported. “And Rodgers is coming in on the nickel.”
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“Rodgers was a big-time free agent pickup for the Vikings last offseason. … They were very excited about his playmaking ability,” Seifert continued. “But as the season wore on, he really struggled making tackles in the open field specifically. His coverage was OK, but the tackling really struggled, and Jay Ward is better at that.”
“I don’t think Jay Ward projects as a longterm cornerback for this team in future seasons, but you also wonder if Isaiah Rodgers does, either,” Seifert said.
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Field Yates of ESPN on Wednesday projected in his first mock draft of the season that the Vikings will select Mansoor Delane out of LSU with the No. 11 overall pick.
“He has excellent size for the position (6-foot, 190 pounds) and thrives using force at the catch point to disrupt the ball,” Yates wrote. “Delane is at his best playing off coverage and reading the quarterback, though he is also a willing run defender who could thrive in Brian Flores’ aggressive system. When targeted as the primary coverage player this season, he surrendered the third-lowest completion percentage in the FBS (27.8%).”
Vikings’ JJ McCarthy reveals biggest challenge of reading NFL defenses
Rookie quarterback JJ McCarthy says the hardest part of stepping up to NFL speed isn’t the play call or the pre-snap read, it’s when the rush and back-end disguises collide after the snap. “I think it’s the rush. That rush, it gets to you quick. And they’re doing so many things on the back end that, yeah, you could figure out it’s Cover 2, but by the time you figure out it’s Cover 2, you’re on your back,” McCarthy told reporters, summing up why processing quickly after the snap matters more than ever.
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The physical rush shows up in other ways, too. McCarthy’s passes have been batted at a high rate this season, evidence that slow decision-making or late drops of the ball put his throws in harm’s way. Removing that hesitation helps reduce pressure-induced mistakes.
Lunchbreak: Deeper Dives on Vikings Offense vs. Commanders
Streamlining the offense Sunday was key to Minnesota’s largest shutout win in 45 seasons.
“You have to have a pretty unique plan,” Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters Monday.
Alec Lewis of The Athletic on Tuesday gathered that O’Connell toggled between two worlds against the Commanders: one that leaned on heavy personnel and rushes, and another, spread-out mode of attack.
Lewis pinpointed that Minnesota opted for bigger bodies on early downs in order to move the line of scrimmage, and then shifted to the shotgun on more than 80 percent of its third downs so QB J.J. McCarthy could have a clearer sense of where to go with the football. The strategy, obviously, worked.
On plays under center, Minnesota picked up 101 rush yards — out of 165 total (162 if you include the 3 yards lost on kneel downs at the end of the game) — on 23 attempts, according to Next Gen Stats. Backfield buddies Aaron Jones, Sr., and Jordan Mason were in peak shape, averaging 5.4 and 4.7 yards. And the forward lean on Washington’s defensive front succeeded in opening up concepts for McCarthy.
Overall, in his seventh start, the 22-year-old generated the week’s third-highest passer rating (129.2), behind Bills QB and reigning MVP Josh Allen (139.7) and Rams QB and MVP favorite Matthew Stafford (131.3). When he absolutely had to have it (on third downs), McCarthy aced 4 of 6 attempts for 51 yards.
In all fairness, Lewis reminded that Washington’s defense is “porous.” The Commanders have allowed 135.5 yards per game on the ground, 29th in the NFL, and their pass defense is even leakier (246.9, 30th).
But … there were factors that finally and tremendously worked in Minnesota’s favor. Lewis shared them:
The Vikings starting o-line, from left to right of Christian Darrisaw, Donovan Jackson, Ryan Kelly, Will Fries and Brian O’Neill, managed 49 snaps together after playing 35 snaps through Week 13.
The Vikings defense had three takeaways — four, really, thanks to a goal-line stand and turnover on downs — which matched its total from the previous five games. In complementary fashion, the offense scored 10 points off those turnovers and held a TOP advantage of about 10 minutes.
The Vikings started fast, choosing to receive the ball after winning the coin toss and scoring a TD on a simple but pretty seven-play drive. That let them play with a lead for 54 offensive snaps and therefore commit to a run-focused offense. Before Week 14, they played 128 snaps with a lead.
And last but not least, the Vikings benefited from McCarthy’s accuracy. Releasing the ball in 2.56 seconds on average, more than a quarter of a second quicker than his old best (2.84 against the Bears in Week 11), McCarthy finished with his lowest off-target rate (4.3%) in a game so far and he did not commit a single turnover-worthy play for the first time in 2025 per Pro Football Focus.
Diving even deeper
The lowest point of Minnesota’s 2025 slate likely was the lackluster effort on Thursday Night Football.
In that 37-10 loss to the Chargers, which followed a near win over the Super Bowl champion Eagles, the Vikings passed for 130 yards and ran for 34. An early deficit resulted in a sky-high 76.6 percent pass rate.
That was the hardest O’Connell has leaned on the passing game this year.
Conversely, Sunday against Washington was the “softest” — and the most frequently he’s run it since his debut 2022 season. Minnesota ran the rock on 55.7% of its offensive plays; the prior highwater mark in a game under O’Connell was 53.5%, which produced 141 yards in a 29-13 Week 18 win at Chicago in 2022; the Vikings rotated from starters to reserves in that game, with a spot in the playoffs already guaranteed.
That switch in strategy prefaces Ben Goessling’s analysis for the Minnesota Star Tribune this week, basically, that Minnesota’s offense looked closer to what McCarthy directed in his final year at Michigan.
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Goessling wrote the following:
The conditions for the Vikings on Sunday were as pristine as they’ve been all season. General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah talked before the season about building a team that could win “any type of fight”; the Vikings’ 31-0 win over the Commanders didn’t demand a great deal of resourcefulness.
But the Vikings, who had lost their last four games and scored six points in their last two before Sunday, weren’t in a position to quibble with how they secured this victory. And while a win over Washington might not earn them many style points, it came in a manner that has been rare for them under O’Connell but might actually work for them at this point in McCarthy’s tenure.
Vikings Sign Former Seahawks LB, Work Out 3,700-Yard RB
Minnesota hosted several players on Tuesday, December 9, mostly on the defensive side of the football. However, the team also gave a look to a wildly successful FCS running back out of South Dakota.
NFL reporter Aaron Wilson noted on X that the Vikings worked out safety Tysheem Johnson, linebacker Jacob Roberts, cornerback Trey Vaval, linebacker Josh Ross and running back Travis Theis.
Theis rushed for 3,668 yards and 40 TDs as a member of the Coyotes, boasting a career clip of 5.0 yards per carry. He rushed for 365 yards on 70 carries (5.21 yards per attempt) across 12 games, including four starts, for the Montreal Alouettes in 2025
Currently a member of the Canadian Football League, the 24-year-old Theis is a player of particular note given the potential that the Vikings could part ways with Aaron Jones next offseason in the interest of salary cap savings. Minnesota is facing a $36 million cap deficit in 2026 and cutting Jones would save the team $7.2 million against the cap, which is 20 percent of the debt the Vikings must make up.
Josh Ross Has Been Regular Special Teams Contributor Over 3-Year NFL Career
But it wasn’t Theis the Vikings signed Tuesday, but rather Ross as an addition to the linebacking corps. He inked a deal with the Baltimore Ravens in 2022 as an undrafted rookie before joining the Seattle Seahawks via the waiver wire in October 2024.
Now 26 years old, Ross has appeared in 22 games across three NFL seasons. He has played solely as a special teams player to this point in his career, registering 1,047 snaps in the game’s third phase during his time as a pro.
Q&D Cap Space Work
Carry over cap space : $15,502,889
Starting 2026 Cap space : ($35,983,572) note: carry over cap space not included here
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Extend O’Neill – 3 yr 60M
Extend Hargrave – 3yr 24M
Extend Kelly – 2 yr 15M
Cut Jones
Trade Hock
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Ending 2026 Cap space: $8,166,928
Add carry over : $23,669,817
2027 Cap space: $27,593,273
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Post June 1 moves
Smith Retires
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2026 Additonal Cap space: $1,300,000
2027 Cap space: $28,993,273
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What can you do with 24M in cap space during free agency?
Free agency needs? Center, Safety, Cornerback, Running back, Tight End (maybe), Defensive Tackle (maybe).
Seems to me that a safety, cornerback, and running back. I like Jeremiah Love but do not want to spend a first round pick on a running back who may or may not get a second contract. The hope would be he will but then you have to ask if KOC is going to utilize him enough. I would love to get the center, Tyler Linderbaumfrom the Ravens who declined his fifth year option but I doubt they just let him hit free agency. Lamar Jackson has a 74M cap hit which they could restructure some of his 51M salary or extend him a few more years. Worst case is they tag and trade Linderbaum.
I like these free agents
Eric Stokes CB Raiders 7M
Jaylin Hawkins S Patriots 7M
Travis Etienne RB Jaguars 7M
Noah Fant TE Bengals 5M
Leo Chenal LB Chiefs 5M
Yore Mock
Trade Partner: PanthersSent: 1.11Received: 1.16, 3.80
…Trade Partner: ColtsSent: 2.43Received: 2.49, 4.117…
Pick 16. Peter Woods DL Clemson 6’3” 310Pick 49. A.J. Harris CB Penn State 6’1” 186Pick 75. A.J. Haulcy S LSU 6’0” 222Pick 80. Connor Lew IOL Auburn 6’3” 303Pick 97. Deontae Lawson LB Alabama 6’2” 228Pick 117. Derrick Moore EDGE Michigan 6’3” 260Pick 161. Zakee Wheatley S Penn State 6’2” 202Pick 197. Justin Joly TE NC State 6’3” 263Pick 226. Ted Hurst WR Georgia State 6’3” 185Pick 242. Taylen Green QB Arkansas 6’6” 224
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