The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings have a heated rivalry that goes back several decades. Last season, the Vikings got the better of the Packers in their two regular season matchups, winning both. However, since 1993, the two teams have been fairly evenly matched with Green Bay holding a slight 34-30-2 edge.
And, of course, the two teams have an interesting history in terms of the quarterback position. When Packers legend Brett Favre was spurned by the team in favor of Aaron Rodgers in 2008, he spent a year playing for the New York Jets before retiring, unretiring, and then signing with Minnesota as an act of revenge.
This offseason, Rodgers reached out to the Vikings about playing for them in 2025 after he was released by the Jets. However, Minnesota informed him that they plan on going into the season with JJ McCarthy, the tenth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, as their starting quarterback.
Former Green Bay Packers QB Kurt Benkert Gets Roasted for Disrespecting Minnesota Vikings’ Projected Start JJ McCarthy
McCarthy was the fifth quarterback taken in the 2024 NFL Draft behind Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears), Jayden Daniels (Washington Commanders), Drake Maye (New England Patriots), and Michael Penix (Atlanta Falcons).
This year’s crop of starting quarterbacks in the draft has some talented players, but is not considered to be as good as last year’s. Still, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders are considered exciting talents that may have been among the best quarterbacks in last year’s draft too.
And former Packers quarterback Kurt Benkert, who was with the team in 2021, believes both would be taken before McCarthy:
Jayden, Cam, Caleb, Nix & Penix (interchangeable), Maye, Shedeur, McCarthy in that order https://t.co/pDqYshn1iO
— Kurt Benkert (@KurtBenkert) April 4, 2025
Many fans were not thrilled with his take, and they let him know about it in the comments on his post:
If JJ Was in this years draft he would be the first QB taken
— suspense (@suspensecreates) April 4, 2025
The McCarthy slander is outrageous. Yes I’m a homer. 〽️
— Tyler Stiff (@Tstiff70) April 4, 2025
You are going to realize how wrong you are about JJ
— Cody Parish (@CpSportsView) April 4, 2025
Gonna be fkn hilarious when McCarthy ends up being the best one of the bunch and you end up being one of the few NFL QBs that doesn’t know ball
— Trevor (@trevorh31) April 4, 2025
What suddenly changed with Mccarthy? pic.twitter.com/yIHswPWbdR
— MG (@MGMN_32) April 4, 2025
Time will tell, of course, which of the quarterbacks listed above ends up being the best of the bunch. It sounds, though, like Benkert is not betting on the current Vikings quarterback.
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