The Vikings’ quarterback picture for 2027 is already starting to look like a blank slate.
Minnesota moved on from J.J. McCarthy on Monday after less than three seasons, shipping him to the New York Giants and signaling that Kyler Murray is the guy for the rest of the 2026 campaign.
But that only solves the present. Once the season ends, the situation gets messy fast.
Murray and Carson Wentz are both scheduled to have their contracts expire in 2027, and Max Brosmer’s original deal with Minnesota was wiped out after he was waived earlier this year. In other words, the Vikings don’t currently have a quarterback under contract beyond this season.
That leaves Minnesota staring at a future in which the 2027 starter may not be on the roster yet. If the Vikings go shopping next offseason, a few veteran names stand out.
Justin Herbert is the splashiest possibility, and maybe the most intriguing one if the Chargers keep stumbling. Los Angeles has dropped its first three games, and Herbert’s start has been rough by his standards. He has completed 59.1 percent of his passes for 627 yards, three touchdowns, and four interceptions, good for a 73.4 passer rating.
That’s a long way from the norm for Herbert. He has never finished a season with a passer rating below 93.2, which is why a change of scenery could suddenly start to make sense if the Chargers’ problems keep piling up.
A more realistic path might be Mac Jones. Minnesota already showed in 2024 that it’s willing to gamble on a former first-round pick who spent time backing up Brock Purdy in San Francisco, and that move with Sam Darnold paid off. Jones fits that same mold.
He is set to become a free agent after this season, and his time with the 49ers has helped rebuild his value. Last season, Jones appeared in 11 games and made eight starts, finishing with 2,151 yards, 13 touchdowns, six interceptions, a 69.6 percent completion rate, and a 97.4 passer rating.
At 28, Jones is still young enough to be part of a longer-term plan. He would almost certainly cost less than a trade for Herbert, even if he’s one of the pricier free-agent quarterbacks available.
Then there’s Drew Lock, a name that fits the Vikings’ possible do-it-again blueprint. If Minnesota wants to pair a rookie first-round quarterback with a veteran stopgap, Lock could be in the mix.
He is in the middle of his third season with the Seahawks, and the connection matters: Minnesota’s new general manager, Nolan Teasley, came from Seattle. Lock has started only one game since the start of the 2025 season, and that came in Week 2 this year, when he threw for 235 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Lock is 29 and scheduled to hit free agency in 2027. He would also be one of the more affordable options on the market, which keeps him squarely in the conversation if the Vikings decide to take another swing at drafting their quarterback of the future.
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Kevin OConnell Faces Real Heat After Vikings QB Bust
The Vikings have already moved on from a costly quarterback swing, sending former 2024 No. 10 pick J.J. McCarthy to the Giants for a 2027 fifth-round pick and putting an abrupt end to a pairing that never took hold in Minnesota. Head coach Kevin OConnell and general manager Nolan Teasley both acknowledged the disappointment of the decision, calling it a necessary fresh start as the team looks to steady an offense that has stumbled early this season.
What makes the move more than a simple roster reset is the pressure it puts on OConnell and the organizations quarterback plans going forward. The Vikings still have to answer whether the development process behind McCarthy went wrong, and how much of the responsibility lands on the coaching staff as the offense searches for traction. For a team built around offensive identity, the aftermath of this trade could linger well beyond the transaction itself. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Vikings, the result was less about a catastrophic setback and more about a quarterback trying to work his way through a tricky recovery. Williams is expected to be week-to-week, which leaves his status unsettled but offers some relief that the injury is not expected to cause long-term damage. Still, the way it happened showed just how sharp the pain can be when a player is dealing with something that never fully went away. [Read more 🡒]
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The ripple effects reached deeper down the roster, too, with players such as Tai Felton and Jake Golday seeing notable shifts in their usage as the Vikings continued to adjust on the fly. Those changes dont just reflect one game plan, they point to a team still sorting out which pieces can handle bigger roles if the injury situation lingers. [Read more 🡒]