Minnesota

Vikings

The battle for QB1 will be between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy, with Florio believing the competition between the two will “commence during preseason practices and games.” This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but it lays to rest any assumptions that Murray will walk in as the unquestioned starter before camp. While we would expect Murray to ultimately win the job in runaway fashion, it sounds like McCarthy will be given every chance to prove he’s still the man for the job and a player worthy of the No. 10 overall pick the team used on him in 2024.

The Bills drafted Gilmore with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. He remained in Buffalo until 2017, when he signed with the Patriots in free agency. Gilmore enjoyed the best seasons of his career in New England, winning Super Bowl LII in 2018. He earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2018 and 2019, and co-led the NFL in interceptions while also winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2019. He earned Pro Bowl honors in 2016 and 2018-2021. He spent one-year stints with the Panthers, Colts, Cowboys and Vikings from 2021-2024. Gilmore logged 149 passes defended, 32 interceptions, 617 combined tackles and one sack in his NFL career.

Addison is hoping for a bounce-back season after a down 2025 saw his receiving totals (42-610-3) feature career-lows across the board. Of course, not all of Addison’s struggles can be blamed on him, as the Vikings were forced to navigate one of the worst quarterback situations of the season with J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer all taking turns under center last season. Addison has a career line of 175-2,396-22 in his three-year career and has been a serviceable WR2 opposite Justin Jefferson. Now under contract through 2027, the team will get some additional time to look at him before deciding if he’s worth a long-term extension.

It was reported early this month that the Vikings were open to trading Greenard, who has generated interest from a handful of suitors. Greenard, who is in search of a new contract, has two years left on his current deal and is coming off a season in which he totaled 38 tackles, three sacks, and 10 TFLs in 12 games. It was a down season for the six-year vet, who totaled 24.5 sacks in the previous two seasons, but at only 28 years old, there’s hope he can regain his form this season. While it’s still possible the two sides split this offseason, O’Connell’s comments seem fairly definitive at this point.

Lewis has a deep dive of the Greenard market in his latest, the gist of which is basically centered around Greenard’s contract demands being a major impediment to a trade. The Eagles have been the main team linked to Greenard, but the Colts are also a reasonable fit given how they were reportedly the runner-up on Trey Hendrickson this offseason. Of course, the Colts also don’t have a first-round pick again until 2028, so trading real value for Greenard might be off the table for them. Lewis believes anything less than a Day 2 pick would be a “non-starter” for the Vikings.

The Vikings gave Van Demark a fully-guaranteed $4.2 million contract. He’ll likely be Minnesota’s swing option, and it says something about the health of Christian Darrisaw — who could not be reliably counted on towards the end of last season — that the Vikings felt inclined to invest this kind of money into a potential solution for him.

The Eagles were reportedly interested in Greenard near the opening of free agency, and a few weeks later they continue to be the only team publicly connected to him. It’s possible that Greenard is a pivot option off of A.J. Brown because he’d require a new contract and the Eagles are dealing with a challenging salary cap situation. We’re a little surprised we haven’t seen more interest in Greenard, even off a down 2025 season.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but in case there were any questions about Wentz impacting McCarthy, those can now be laid to rest. Seifert reports the decision to bring back Wentz is “about avoiding the depth emergencies” the Vikings experienced at QB in 2023 and 2025, which resulted from multiple injuries at the position. Wentz, 33, appeared in five games for the Vikings last season, going 2-3 as a starter while throwing for 1,216-6-5 on 169 attempts. A shoulder injury permanently sidelined him for the season after a Week 8 loss to the Chargers, but Wentz should be good to go at the start of next season, and could open the season as high as QB2 on the depth chart — assuming Kyler Murray wins the starting job.

Wentz explored free agency for a few weeks and the Jets seemingly showed some interest before going in a different direction. He’s now back in Minnesota after throwing for 1,216 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions in 2025. Wentz went 2-3 as the team’s starter and before a shoulder injury knocked him out for the year. His return casts some doubt on the idea of J.J. McCarthy as the team’s QB2 behind Kyler Murray. At best, Wentz will push McCarthy for that role during the offseason.

Hekker is a 14-year veteran, spending time with the Rams, Panthers, and Titans. He was a four-time All-Pro with the Rams early in his career and averaged 46.8 yards per punt with the Titans last season. The Vikings now fill the punter role with Hekker on a one-year deal.