Vikings Called Sleeper Team for 2027 Draft
The 2026 Draft ended about a month ago. As the NFL calendar is a flat circle, the next draft will come sooner rather than later. In roughly 11 months, the Vikings will add more young players, after already securing nine rookies in this year’s event.
Interim GM Rob Brzezinski focused on the defensive side of the ball, but next year, the quarterback position could once again be on the franchise’s menu.
ESPN’s Jordan Reid published an article in which he wrote about the NFL-bound passers from the 2027 class. He mentioned that the Cardinals definitely need a quarterback, then added a quick note on the Vikings, calling them a “sleeper team to watch at QB”.
Indeed, it’s quite realistic that the purple franchise would be in the market for a signal-caller 11 months from now.
Reid wrote, “They are in the middle of a QB competition between Kyler Murray and J.J. McCarthy for the starting job, with Carson Wentz behind them as the QB3. If Murray and McCarthy don’t drastically improve from what they put on tape last season, Minnesota could be looking for its next franchise signal-caller as soon as the 2027 draft.”
The franchise already has a recent precedent for drafting a quarterback in the first round exactly three years after another. Christian Ponder was the 12th overall pick in 2011, and Teddy Bridgewater arrived with the 32nd pick in 2014.
The upcoming season will determine if McCarthy can become the long-term answer at the position. If there’s no answer after three seasons, he more than likely won’t be.
Michigan’s national champion was sidelined in his rookie campaign with a torn meniscus, watching Sam Darnold tear it up in Kevin O’Connell’s aerial attack. Last year, the Vikings said goodbye to Darnold in favor of McCarthy, but the young quarterback couldn’t live up to the sky-high expectations.
Inconsistencies were sparked by flawed fundamentals but also by injuries. He suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 2 and subsequently missed five games. A concussion cost him the reunion with Darnold and Seattle’s vaunted defensive unit, and a hand injury prevented him from getting more valuable reps later in the season.
The bottom line is the 23-year-old has ten games under his belt and he couldn’t complete two of them. Still, it’s noteworthy that young passers can improve, especially those with limited experience.
To get more experience, he will have to see the field in 2026, but his opponent, Kyler Murray, wants to prevent that. Cut from the Cardinals, Murray is seeking redemption. He desires an opportunity to show the world that he can still be the promising first overall pick, rather than a low-end starter.
Murray was an explosive player early in his career, but injuries have bothered him over the last four years. The Cardinals have also not particularly helped him over the years. At the end of the day, he has the talent to be the new franchise quarterback in the Twin Cities and sign a long-term deal next year, but he needs to show it over the next eight months.
With two options in the building, Minnesota needs to figure out if either can be The Guy.
If neither can, well, next year’s draft might feature some prospects that can. Everyone is talking about Arch Manning, whose grandfather had a brief stint with the Vikings decades ago.
However, several other intriguing passers will be eligible to enter the draft, including Oregon’s Dante Moore, Julian Sayin (Ohio State), CJ Carr (Notre Dame), LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), and Drew Mestemaker (Oklahoma State).
Of course, the Vikings hope that conversation becomes irrelevant by next spring. The ideal scenario is either McCarthy taking a major leap in Year 3 or Murray reviving his career under Kevin O’Connell and locking down the position long-term.
But the organization has intentionally given itself flexibility at quarterback, and that flexibility cuts both ways. If neither passer takes control of the job in 2026, Minnesota could realistically enter next offseason as one of the league’s most intriguing quarterback-hungry teams.
For now, the Vikings have two swings at solving the position. If both miss, the 2027 Draft could quickly move from “sleeper possibility” to obvious reality.