Now that the Minnesota Vikings have seemingly committed to 2024 first-round selection and quarterback J.J. McCarthy, the team needs to improve the backup situation just in case things don’t pan out in his second season.
As things stand now, the Vikings only have Brett Rypien behind McCarthy, which simply isn’t good enough with Minnesota having its eye on doing big thing this coming season after a 14-3 campaign in 2024.
The expectation is that the Vikings are going to add a more established veteran to the room now that they’re out on Aaron Rodgers, which they definitely should. But what if Minnesota also brought in a younger quarterback to develop as a possible long-term insurance policy for McCarthy?
That scenario is one that AtoZ Sports’ Easton Freeze floated out there recently. He believes the Vikings could be “strong candidates” to trade for Tennessee Titans quarterback, Will Levis.
“I’m including the Vikings in the Strong Candidates tier because while I think a trade will be pursued by the Titans before we get past draft weekend, I’m certainly not ruling out a trade finally coming together later in the summer,” Freeze wrote. “There’s still a world in which Levis finally moves on as late as the preseason. And while Minnesota’s draft situation really prohibits them from making a trade with 2025 capital, I think they’d become the team to focus on if Levis is still on the roster in May. Everything about this landing spot makes sense besides 2025 available picks: the coach and scheme, their QB culture, their desire for more than what they currently have on the roster. It’s a very good fit.”
Levis showed plenty of promise during his first season in the NFL and looked to be the long-term solution the Titans were looking for at quarterback. However, Levis looked like a shell of that player in 2024, with turnovers and terrible decision-making being the biggest problems.
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With the Titans owning the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft and likely to take Miami’s Cam Ward, Levis has become expendable and should fetch a late Day 3 pick in a trade.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has already shown he can revive the career of a down-and-out quarterback after he did so with Sam Darnold in 2024, and it’s possible he could do the same with Levis, who would also have a much better supporting cast in Minnesota, assuming he ever sees the field there.
With McCarthy being a total wild card after not seeing the field in his first season, the Vikings need to give themselves as many options as possible at the position. Adding Levis should be something the Vikings explore.
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