5 players Vikings must let walk in free agency during NFL offseason

Minnesota enters the 2026 offseason with one clear lesson from 2025: the quarterback room can’t be left to chance again. Reports have already framed the Vikings as a team seeking a veteran quarterback for real competition and, just as important, a safer backup plan if J.J. McCarthy misses time again, after Max Brosmer struggled in relief.

The Vikings don’t have the luxury of paying for depth pieces that can be replaced by cheaper options, especially if the goal is to keep enough flexibility to add a legitimate veteran passer and still patch the roster around him. Let’s see a few options that could/should leave the team for a better year right now.

Carson Wentz, QB

Wentz is the cleanest decision because the entire quarterback conversation in Minnesota is now about reliability and contingency planning. The Vikings already lived the nightmare scenario in 2025, and even sympathetic evaluations of Wentz still land in the same place: he’s not the kind of veteran you build your emergency plan around. If O’Connell is serious about adding a stabilizing veteran presence, it almost automatically pushes Wentz out of the picture, because carrying him again would just recreate the same fragile structure they’re trying to replace.

Ty Chandler, RB

Chandler is the type of back-team talk themselves into keeping because he’s familiar and has had moments, but this is exactly where good front offices stay cold. Minnesota can find rotational running back production without paying for it, and the Vikings’ bigger issue is building an offense that isn’t dependent on perfect conditions to function. When you’re trying to rework your quarterback plan, you can’t be spending meaningful money on a backfield role that can be filled through the draft or a cheaper veteran. Chandler also sits in that uncomfortable middle tier where a decent market can form quickly, and Minnesota shouldn’t be the team funding it.

Rondale Moore, WR

Moore is a good example of why teams get trapped by skills in theory. His name needs to show up on the Vikings’ free-agent landscape, but Minnesota’s actual roster-building mission is bigger than collecting gadget potential. If the offseason priority is giving the quarterback room stability, that means the receiver group needs clarity, roles that translate in December, and players the staff can trust in the details.

Moore can absolutely help an offense, but if the market prices him like a featured chess piece, Minnesota should let someone else pay that bill and reallocate those resources toward a veteran quarterback addition, protection, and the kinds of targets that make the offense easier on the passer.

Jalen Nailor, WR

Nailor is the tougher call emotionally because he’s been part of the room and can play, but the Vikings have to make decisions like a team that wants to win with structure. He’s been discussed as one of the key offseason decisions for Minnesota, which is exactly the point.

With Justin Jefferson as the centerpiece and other money priorities piling up, the Vikings can’t afford to pay market value for receiver depth unless that player is clearly irreplaceable in their plan. If Nailor’s market gives him starter-ish money or multi-year security, the Vikings should let him go and draft the next version of that role.

Jeff Okudah, CB

Okudah is the kind of player who can have a market based on pedigree and fresh start optimism, and that’s exactly why Minnesota should be careful. He’s been part of Minnesota’s free-agency picture, and the corner is always tempting because the league is built on passing.

But paying for a corner who hasn’t clearly become a long-term answer can turn into a quiet cap problem fast. The Vikings need corners, yes, but they also need sustainable team-building, and that usually means you either pay for a real difference-maker or you draft and develop while you spend your bigger money elsewhere. If Okudah’s price rises into the range where you’re paying for upside more than certainty, the responsible move is to let him walk.

The uncomfortable truth is that let walk lists aren’t about disrespect at all. Minnesota has a top-of-the-roster core that can win games, but the 2025 season showed how quickly the floor collapses, and that is why their offseason resources should be funneled toward the positions that prevent those collapses: quarterback depth, protection, and the kind of pass-game support that keeps the offense alive when the opponent knows what’s coming.

That’s also why the trade-market chatter matters in the bigger picture. Alec Lewis has been tied to a report framing Mac Jones as a particularly clean trade fit if the team wants a realistic push option behind, or instead of, McCarthy, given the system familiarity angle and the manageable salary structure being discussed.

So if the Vikings are serious about reshaping 2026 around competence at quarterback, these are the kinds of exits that have to happen.

They need to clear the runway so the Vikings can rebuild the room in all the right ways and stop letting one injury turn the entire season into a scramble.

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