Aaron Rodgers is still unsigned, and despite some rumblings of a potential pairing with the Minnesota Vikings, it sounds as if that isn't going to happen.
Just ask Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who spoke plenty on the matter on Wednesday.
"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," Adofo-Mensah explained, "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."
It's relatively standard talk from a GM, but Adofo-Mensah was pressed to elaborate on how he viewed Rodgers in relation to McCarthy, last year's first-round pick who missed his rookie season due to a preseason knee injury.
Would Rodgers be seen as competition, or just a veteran backup?
"You want to solve for a lot of things," Adofo-Mensah told reporters on Wednesday. "You want competition, you want ability to play if they're not the starter, all those different things, you're just trying to solve for a lot of different dynamics. I'm not going to say that specific to Aaron, just generally what you're trying to accomplish in the decision."
If Rodgers were to join the Vikings, he'd complete the career path laid by Brett Favre. But unlike Favre, Rodgers isn't being viewed as a franchise-saving option, not with McCarthy -- whose presence convinced Minnesota to let Sam Darnold walk in free agency earlier this month -- on the roster.
That might be enough to convince the Vikings it isn't worth pursuing Rodgers. The 41-year-old, meanwhile, might not be interested in signing where he'd be seen as a backup equipped with experience to step in when needed.
"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 said of 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 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."
As Rodgers continues to mull his future with the team it appears his most likely destination, the Steelers, the Vikings are keeping their eyes trained on their 2024 first-rounder, McCarthy. They won't anoint him the starter yet -- McCarthy said this week he has not be informed he's QB1 -- but they sure sound eager to watch him earn the job.
"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."
Those options include the players on the roster (McCarthy, Rypien), and could involve Rodgers if expectations change. As it stands now, though, Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings seem content to proceed forward without him -- and with the hope McCarthy commands the job.
