Vikings Have Not Closed the Door on Aaron Rodgers
Despite reports that the Minnesota Vikings were out on quarterback Aaron Rodgers, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said on Wednesday the door is still open for the four-time league MVP.
Adofo-Mensah confirmed that talks took place with Rodgers and the ball is now in the veteran quarterbacks court.
“I think we got to a place where we just said, everybody was transparent, but right now we feel good about where we’re going, and that’s really how it ended,” Adofo-Mensah told reporters in regards to the Vikings’ talks with Rodgers. “It’s ultimately up to him, it’s hard to talk about a player who’s not under contract for our team and who isn’t a member of this team. It’s ultimately up to him what he decides to do with his future, but that’s kind of where we left it.
“I know (Vikings head coach) Kevin (O’Connell) and him have a great relationship still, they’ll still have a relationship and keep talking, but right now I’m focused on the two players that are in our room right now and my personnel process going forward.”
The Vikings are focused on 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy being the starter, but they’re keeping their options open. Nothing is set in stone.
“Given where we are scenario-wise, we didn’t think it was the right move at this time. It is also his decision to whether he signs with another team,” Adofo-Mensah said. “For me to sit here and say that anything’s 100% forever, that’s just not the job. Right? We’re responding to scenarios and different information as it comes. Obviously, things can change, but right now we’re really happy with our room and we’ll look to upgrade it in different ways. But for now, we’re really excited.”
“Right now given all of our scenario planning, we’re happy with our room and obviously we’re going to talk a lot about J.J. McCarthy. But Brett Rypien, who’s someone we brought in last offseason and we thought made a lot of great decisions, quick decision making, processing, and better athlete than people give him credit for, accurate passer, so we’re excited about him. And we’re always going to keep looking to see if we can upgrade that position, just like every other position.”
McCarthy said this week he has not be informed he’s the starter.
“You know you guys all talk in terms of QB1 and all those conversations, different things like that. When we pool the resources we did to draft J.J. and you go through that long process and all those things, I can’t stand up here and say that’s not,” Adofo-Mensah said. “That’s the outcome we want, and that’s the outcome we’re headed towards. At every checkpoint, whether it’s been the draft process or practice until the injury or really the offseason now, he’s met the bar, he’s exceeded our expectations at every point. And so I don’t have the ability to tell you what the future is, but I can tell you what I expect to be the outcome this offseason from the competition.
“But it’s also our job to set up a quarterback room that’s going to be able to meet, have great ideas and prepare whoever it is to play, but also provide insurance in case someone needs to come in for a couple games. And that’s our job as a personnel department is to look at all the options out there and make sure we’re setting ourselves up for the best case we can.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers hosted Rodgers for six hours last Friday, but he left UPMC Rooney Sports Complex without a contract. That doesn’t mean the visit went poorly, though.
In fact, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport believes quite the opposite in that it was a very productive meeting.
“As far as the visit,” Rapoport said on the Pat McAfee Show. “It sounded like it went really well.”
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk also thinks it’s a “safe bet” that the Steelers land Aaron Rodgers. The “when,” however, remains a mystery.