Minnesota Vikings

The 49ers ended up with not one but two international games in 2026 — one in Australia and one in Mexico. Even though the trip to Melbourne will be much longer than the trip to Mexico City, the Mexico trip will likely keep them away from home even longer than the season-opener down under.

“We haven’t finalized it yet, but we’d love to stay here and go there,” Shanahan said of the travel plans for the Week 11 game against the Vikings in Mexico City. “It’s a shorter flight, but that’s not really the issue. The main thing with Mexico City is it’s 2,000 [feet] higher than Denver. And so, we like to get adjusted to that altitude. So, we’ll probably go to Colorado Springs again like we did last time to get ready for that altitude and then probably go to Mexico City the night before.”

The 49ers play their Week 10 game at Dallas. Shanahan was asked whether the team would go straight to Colorado from Texas.

“We haven’t decided that yet, but most likely,” Shanahan said. “We’ll probably end up, the Mexico City trip will probably be a longer one than the Australia one, just because of that.”

The two international trips impose a significant burden on the 49ers. And it potentially creates a competitive disadvantage. Those issues, however, have taken a back seat to the league’s efforts to globalize the game.

The NFL wants to secure the ability to play 16 international games per year, with the idea of having every team make one international trip per season. That would be the fairest way to handle it. If every team has to leave the country once, the disadvantage levels out.

For now, with a maximum of 10 international games, it would be far more fair for no team to be expected to travel to another country for a game more than once per year. In the ultra-difficult NFC West, having the 49ers make two separate trips to play in another country won’t make it an easier to successfully compete with the Seahawks and the Rams.

The Vikings completed a second round of General Manager interviews on Thursday, Alec Lewis of TheAthletic.com reports.

It is unclear whether the Vikings will need more due diligence before a decision, but the expectation has been that they would make a hire by early June.

The Vikings reportedly had a second round of interviews with their executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, Broncos assistant GM Reed Burckhardt, Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray, Rams assistant GM John McKay and Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasley. Brzezinski has been doing the job in Minnesota on an interim basis since they fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

49ers assistant GM RJ Gillen, Titans assistant GM Dave Ziegler and Lions Assistant GM Ray Agnew were other candidates in the first round and Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander declined an interview request.

The Vikings fired Adofo-Mensah after four seasons on Jan. 30.

The Vikings have a quarterback competition, between the player who was presumed to be the quarterback of the future and a newcomer who is looking to turn the clock back to 2020.

Both guys want to play. Unless coach Kevin O’Connell plans to implement a two-quarterback offense, only one will.

On Wednesday, incumbent starter J.J. McCarthy downplayed (unconvincingly) the inherently awkward nature of the situation. Kyler Murray separately addressed his relationship with McCarthy.

“It’s been great,” Murray told reporters. “It’s been great. Obviously, I know he’s a younger guy, so any way I can help him, obviously, I feel like, you know, I’ve played seven years now going on eight.

“So I’m considered a veteran, even though I don’t see myself as that. Give him any knowledge that he needs. Again, you know, we’re both competitors, and I know we both want what’s best for the team.”

Has McCarthy been receptive to Murray’s input?

“Of course, of course,” Murray said. “Yeah, he’s overly acceptive, you know, and he’s always communicating, asking questions, stuff like that, so it’s been good.”

No matter how good it is, it’s not going to end well for one of them. Based on Murray’s history and accomplishments, he’s the obvious favorite to win the competition. Unless, that is, his mere presence prompts McCarthy to unlock a higher level of performance.

That’s the goal for the Vikings. For only $1.3 million, they have been able to add a veteran who will either push McCarthy to get better or shove him aside. And it all comes down to what happens on the practice field (for now) and eventually what the eventual starter does during the games that count.

J.J. McCarthy went into the 2025 offseason as the Vikings’ unquestioned starter. He went into this offseason competing with Kyler Murray for the starting job.

Murray is the favorite to win the job.

McCarthy, a first-round pick in 2024, made his first public comments since the Vikings signed Murray on March 12.

“It’s just like two guys in a classroom,” McCarthy said Wednesday, via Kevin Seifert of ESPN. “He sits on one side, I sit on the other side, and it’s the coach’s responsibility to teach us and coach us.”

McCarthy insists there is no “awkwardness” between the quarterbacks.

“Awkwardness? It’s just like the same feeling when you’re in high school, and there’s another person on the other side of the room,” McCarthy said. “That’s just kind of how it is. I wouldn’t say there’s any awkwardness.”

Coach Kevin O’Connell has not named a starter, giving McCarthy a chance to compete with Murray. The team’s top two quarterbacks took turns making throws to the first-team wide receivers.

McCarthy, 23, went 6-4 as the Vikings’ starter last season, throwing for 1,631 yards with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. It prompted the Vikings to sign Murray to a one-year, $1.3 million contract after the Cardinals released him.

McCarthy said he remains focused on what he can control.

“The organization made a decision that they feel like is going to improve the depth and the quality of the room, and they feel like they made that decision,” McCarthy said. “All I’m thinking about is continuing the upward trajectory that I set for myself last season, that last quarter of the season and continuing to be the best version of me every single day.”

Tuesday’s decision by the Supreme Court to not accept the NFL’s petition for appeal in the Brian Flores case means that all of his claims will be decided in court, not in arbitration.

And Flores recently added some new factual allegations to the various legal theories raised in his four-year-old litigation against the league and various teams.

In the third amendment to his initial civil complaint, Flores has added specific allegations of retaliation against the NFL.

The 483-paragraph, 106-page document includes at paragraphs 298 through 312 allegations that the NFL has retaliated against Flores since the filing of his initial lawsuit.

“Despite it being widely understood by the public and sports media that Mr. Flores should be considered one of the elite Head Coach candidates, Mr. Flores has not been offered a Head Coach job since starting this lawsuit,” the new complaint alleges at paragraph 311.

From paragraph 312 of the new complaint: “The NFL teams’ failure to hire Mr. Flores is consistent with an NFL Head Coach hiring process that is [sic] has for decades treated Black candidates disparately to white candidates and led to significantly disparate impact. It is also consistent with a culture of retaliation in which NFL teams close ranks against those who raise complaints of discrimination.”

The new factual allegations did not result in an additional cause of action; the existing lawsuit already includes multiple specific claims for retaliation.

As to the concept of retaliation based on the failure of teams to hire Flores as its head coach, the current complaint lists only one team — the Texans. In 2022, Houston made Flores one of three finalists for the job (along with Josh McCown and Jonathan Gannon) before hiring Lovie Smith instead. Flores claims that the decision to not hire him was motivated by the filing of his lawsuit against the NFL and multiple teams.

Although no specific other teams have been accused of failing to hire Flores in retaliation for filing and pursuing his lawsuit, the discovery process could lead to evidence that would support a finding that Flores was not given proper consideration by one or more teams with vacancies during the 2023, 2024, 2025, and/or 2026 hiring cycles.

The contention that the NFL maintains a “culture of retaliation” shows that Flores suspects his failure to get more interviews and/or any offers resulted from retaliation. Time will tell whether other specific teams are added to the case as defendants.

Flores’s current claims target the Dolphins, Texans, Broncos, and Giants. (His co-plaintiffs, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, have sued the Cardinals and Titans, respectively.)

Obviously, Flores won’t be able to force any team to hire him. His aggressive legal arguments won’t make that any easier. Throughout the litigation, however, he has chosen doing what he believes is right over what would be expedient for his career.

And so he’ll continue to serve as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, while waiting for a head-coaching opportunity that may never materialize. In the end, the NFL and/or specific teams could be on the wrong end of a verdict that requires them to pay Flores as if he has been a head coach since 2022.

Even if Flores never becomes a head coach again.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declined to accept the NFL’s appeal in the case brought by Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores (and Steve Wilks and Ray Horton). The decision allows his case to proceed in court — and, in theory, to culminate with a public trial.

Both sides have issued comments in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“We respect the Supreme Court’s decision not to grant review,” a league spokesperson said. “Regardless of the forum, we are fully prepared to defend ourselves as this matter proceeds.”

Said Flores’s lawyers: “We are pleased that the Supreme Court declined to accept the NFL’s appeal. The NFL must now accept that its commissioner cannot be the arbitrator over discrimination claims against the league and its teams. We look forward to litigating these claims in court.”

Obviously, the league wants the forum to be its in-house arbitration process. It keeps things secret, and it tips the scales of justice in the league’s favor.

But, no, the NFL won’t suddenly surrender. It will aggressively challenge Flores at every turn, with the goal of securing a victory without having to take the case to trial.

When will that happen? It could take months. Maybe years. After all, it took nearly 52 months to get the case past the threshold question of whether the claims will be resolved in court or in arbitration.

The NFL’s in-house arbitration process isn’t dead, but it’s on the verge of a TKO.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the NFL’s petition for appeal in the Brian Flores case.

From the 25-page document submitted by the league in January 2026, this is the question the NFL presented to the U.S. Supreme Court: “Whether an arbitration agreement governing disputes in a professional sports league is categorically unenforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act because it designates the league commissioner as the default arbitrator and permits the commissioner to develop arbitral procedures.”

The league wisely made the question narrow, in order to avoid the possibility that the league’s arbitration process would be taken to its logical extreme. If the NFL can make the Commissioner the default arbitrator for any employment disputes or other legal claims made by employees, every American corporation could make the CEO the default arbitrator for any employment disputes or other legal claims made against it by its employee.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had found that the NFL’s arbitration agreement was not enforceable due to the Commissioner’s power over the process. The decision not to take the appeal doesn’t operate as an agreement by the Supreme Court; however, if the Supreme Court wanted to endorse the league’s longstanding in-house process, it could have taken up the case and then reversed the outcome.

The current legal posture doesn’t prevent the NFL from arguing its position in cases that arise in other courts. However, there’s now a clear path to suing the NFL and avoiding the mandatory arbitration clauses in non-player employment contracts by suing the NFL in New York federal court — since the Southern District of New York falls within the Second Circuit.

As to Flores, the development means that his claims against the NFL, Dolphins, Broncos, Giants, and Texans (and the claims made by Steve Wilks against the Cardinals and Ray Horton against the Titans) will be resolved by the judicial process. With full discovery. And, absent a settlement or a successful motion for summary judgment, with a trial in open court. All facts will be introduced and developed and exposed to public scrutiny.

That could spark a settlement, sooner than later. The league uses arbitration due in part to its desire to keep its business secret. Unless it goes away, the Flores case could result in all sorts of things the NFL would rather us not know playing out in the public eye.

It’s easier to take the high road when you’re sitting on top of the mountain.

Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, who won the Super Bowl in his first season in Seattle, has no hard feelings about Minnesota’s decision to move on from him after a 14-3 season as the team’s starter.

“I totally understand the move to go with the younger quarterback on a rookie deal, and signing these veteran players that you can maybe pay a little bit more while he’s on his rookie deal, especially if you believe in him,” Darnold said in a recent appearance on The San Clemente Podcast. “Yeah, the business side of it, I totally understand. And like, I think J.J. [McCarthy] is a good player. I think he’s going to be a really good player in this league. I truly believe that. And, you know, for them to see that and be like, “Alright, we’re gonna, you know, Sam, that was a great year,’ but like the business part of it, it was like, ‘OK, like, you know, I totally understand.’”

It was perhaps more than a business consideration. Darnold’s performance in a Week 18, winner-take-all, game at Detroit raised questions about his ability to deliver in the biggest moments. (The wild-card loss eight days later was much more of a total-team failure, especially on the offensive side of the ball.) The Vikings ultimately had to decide whether to make the kind of commitment to Darnold that could have kept McCarthy on the bench for too long.

Still, it’s not as if Darnold broke the bank. His three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seahawks had a one-year out, with a base package of $37.5 million paid in the first season. This year, he’s making $27.5 million. Which is well below the current market rate. (He deserves a raise, frankly.) The Vikings could have found a way to keep him, if they wanted.

There was a more political issue at play. The Vikings had traded up from No. 11 to No. 10 to draft McCarthy. They needed to see what he could do.

But, as history now shows, they also needed to have an accomplished veteran with starting experience, in the event that McCarthy was injured (he was) or struggled (he did). That’s how the 2025 Vikings season collapsed, and it surely played a role in the decision to fire G.M. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

The Vikings tried to keep Daniel Jones. But he didn’t think he’d win the starting job. Jones instead went to the Colts, where he was more confident he’d become QB1, and he did.

This year, the Vikings got a massive bargain in Kyler Murray as the McCarthy alternative. And the coming season will answer many questions.

Will the Vikings decide to keep Murray, who wisely negotiated a no-tag clause for 2027? Will McCarthy step up and secure the long-term job? Will the Vikings be starting over at the position?

There’s no guarantee the Vikings would have had a dramatically better season if they’d kept Darnold or Jones. Still, even with the various struggles at the most important position on the field, the Vikings nearly won enough games to get to the postseason. It won’t take much to get them over the hump, as it relates to getting to the playoffs.

The question is whether the Vikings can do more than that. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2019, and coach Kevin O’Connell is 0-2 in the postseason. For as high as the Vikings were riding through 16 games of the 2024 season, there has been a hard fall. This year, it will be critical to turn things around — and then to sustain it into the next one.

Veteran defensive tackle Isaiahh Loudermilk is heading to Minnesota.

The Vikings announced today that they have signed Loudermilk.

The 28-year-old Loudermilk has played his entire NFL career with the Steelers, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL draft. The 6-foot-7, 293-pound Loudermilk played eight-man football at a small high school in Kansas but was so dominant at that level that he got a scholarship to Wisconsin, where he spent five years.

After playing out his four-year rookie contract, Loudermilk signed a one-year contract with the Steelers last year. In 2025, Loudermilk started the first two games of the season for the Steelers before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. Loudermilk has played a total of 60 NFL games, with seven starts.

Loudermilk has a familiarity with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who was on the Steelers’ staff in 2022.

Vikings owner Mark Wilf said on Tuesday that the team is ready to move on to a second round of General Manager interviews and the team has reportedly picked five candidates to continue in the search process.

Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that they want to have second meetings with their executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski, Broncos assistant GM Reed Burckhardt, Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray, Rams assistant GM John McKay, and Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasley. Brzezinski has been doing the job in Minnesota on an interim basis since they fired Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

49ers assistant GM RJ Gillen, Titans assistant GM Dave Ziegler and Lions Assistant GM Ray Agnew were also involved in the first round. Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander declined an interview request.

The timing of the next interviews hasn’t been announced, but it probably won’t be long before the Vikings are ready to make a hire.