Minnesota Vikings

Free agent wide receiver has agreed to terms on a two-year, $8 million deal with the Broncos, Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports reports.

The Broncos gave free agent Josh Reynolds a similar contract last offseason but ended up cutting him before last season ended.

Sherfield, 29, spent last season with the Vikings. He played 17 game with one start and saw action on 179 offensive snaps and 221 on special teams. Sherfield caught eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown and made eight tackles.

Sherfield has played three seasons for the Cardinals, one for the 49ers, one for the Dolphins, one for the Bills and one for the Vikings.

In his career, he has 86 catches for 1,013 yards and six touchdowns with 36 special teams tackles.

The Steelers and quarterback Aaron Rodgers are negotiating. At this point, they both need each other. And they each could be overplaying their hand.

Pittsburgh has no viable alternative to Rodgers, unless the Falcons change their minds about not trading Kirk Cousins. Russell Wilson, despite the great things he has done in his career, likely isn’t the answer to this question: “How do we finally win another playoff game?”

But Rodgers has no viable alternative to Pittsburgh, if he hopes to not go out like the last shot from a Roman candle. Unless the Vikings decide to complete the Favre cycle, it’s the Giants and 7-10 at best or the Steelers and a likely trip to the playoffs.

What will it take to get it done? Is the magic number $45 million per year? $40 million? The quarterback market has spiked in recent years, and it would seem to be difficult to justify Rodgers taking less than $45 million per year, at a time when 14 quarterbacks are making that much or more.

The problem for Rodgers is that it was widely believed he’d take a low-end deal with the Rams, if Matthew Stafford had left. Regardless of whether Rodgers would have been a bargain if he’d been able to play in Southern California, the Steelers have a clear need. But they seem to be hoping to go cheap at the quarterback position, like they were able to do a year ago when they paid Wilson, Justin Fields, and Kyle Allen — combined — less than what Mason Rudolph got in Tennessee.

The cap keeps going up. The cash keeps going up. The market keeps going up. There’s a big, but fair, number that works for both sides, if they truly want to partner up. If they can’t agree on money, maybe they truly don’t.

The NFL awarded a total of 35 compensatory selections to 15 teams in the 2025 draft, the league announced Tuesday.

The Vikings (97th overall), Dolphins (98th), Giants (99th), 49ers (100th), Rams (101st) and Lions (102nd) received third-round picks.

The Ravens, Cowboys and Dolphins received the most compensatory picks with four each, and the Chargers, 49ers and Seahawks each will have three additional selections.

The Bills, Browns, Chiefs and Raiders will get two compensatory picks each, and the Packers, Vikings and Giants will see an additional selection.

Under the rules for compensatory draft selections, a team losing more or better compensatory free agents (“CFA”) than it acquires in the previous year is eligible to receive compensatory draft picks.

The compensatory picks will be positioned within the third through seventh rounds based on the value of the compensatory free agents lost.

Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. The formula was developed by the NFL Management Council.

In addition to 32 compensatory selections awarded under the net loss formula, a special compensatory selection was awarded to the 49ers, the Rams and the Lions under a 2020 amendment to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. That agreement promotes equal employment opportunities and an inclusive workforce within NFL clubs, incentivizing teams to develop and promote minority talent for General Manager and head coach positions.

The following 2025 compensatory picks were awarded for the 2025 draft on April 24-26 in Green Bay:

On the surface, it’s good that the Steelers have a pair of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks on their radar for 2025. The problem, however, is that both options are getting closer and closer to the 19th holes of their careers.

With Aaron Rodgers emerging as the top choice to become the next Pittsburgh quarterback, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports this: “It’s possible Russell Wilson could return to the Steelers if ongoing discussions with Aaron Rodgers fail to result in a financial agreement, per multiple sources.”

On the surface, that’s a fairly obvious statement. Yes, it’s possible that a team with few other options will bring back its quarterback from 2024. Embedded within it is news: The Steelers and Rodgers are negotiating, with money currently a significant sticking point.

The Steelers could be expecting a sweetheart deal from Rodgers, given that there currently isn’t a 2012 Peyton Manning land rush for his services. It’s down to the Steelers or the Giants — with a weird, gnawing sense that the Vikings could be lurking.

Rodgers’s best chance to cap his career with a playoff berth (he hasn’t made it there since 2021) would come in Pittsburgh. Also, the fact that he gave up $35 million in his first year with the Jets might prompt the Steelers to at least try to squeeze him a little, or a lot.

Will threatening to bring back Russell Wilson make Rodgers blink? The Steelers, and everyone else, saw how that movie ended in 2024. It likely won’t get better with Wilson being a year older.

But what other leverage do the Steelers have? Mason Rudolph? (Maybe they can bring back Duck Hodges, too.)

A Rodgers-Steelers arrangement makes too much sense. It appears that, in the team’s view, Rodgers wants too much money.

Especially since he knows that the $33 million per year they’ll be paying to receiver D.K. Metcalf will be wasted if they don’t have someone who can get him the ball often enough and accurately enough to justify the investment.

In less than 24 hours, the Vikings have lost Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and Nick Mullens to free agency. They now need a veteran quarterback.

Their options will become more clear after the last few QB1 dominoes fall. Both the Steelers and Giants are believed to be looking for a veteran starter. The Browns possibly are, too, despite trading for Kenny Pickett. The Titans could be, as well.

The only clear-cut candidate from the remaining crop of free agents is Aaron Rodgers. Available for backup duty are, among others, Jameis Winston, Mac Jones, Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz, Drew Lock, Mason Rudolph, Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinicke, Marcus Mariota, Cooper Rush.

Russell Wilson becomes the wild-card of the bunch. If he doesn’t get a starting job, will he accept a backup role? Few players who were ever the highest-paid quarterback in the league welcome the holding of a clipboard. (Flacco is the rare exception.) Will Wilson want to be on a team if he knows he won’t be playing?

Regardless, the Vikings need to do something. Minnesota currently has only two quarterbacks on the roster — 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy and Brett Rypien.

There’s one fewer potential landing spot for Aaron Rodgers.

Currently, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer has two primary options — the Steelers and the Giants. From time to time, the Colts and Vikings have been mentioned as potential sleeper candidates.

Indy’s decision to add Daniel Jones seals off the Colts as a destination for Rodgers.

But it also could create an opening for Rodgers in Minnesota. The next step in the Brett Favre career arc depends on whether the Vikings would be willing to sit 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy for another season while attempting a 2009 rewind with Rodgers, when Minnesota got as close to the Super Bowl as the franchise has been since 1976.

Rodgers, as we hear it, would like to play two more years. That likely wouldn’t happen in Minnesota, not with McCarthy on the roster.

So, yes, Pittsburgh and New York are the main locations. And Rodgers continues to be the next domino in the 2025 free-agent quarterback class.

After the 2017 season, the Vikings had three quarterbacks become free agents. None returned for 2018.

After 2024, it happened again. In less than a day, all three have found new homes.

Via multiple reports, Daniel Jones has agreed to terms with the Colts. It’s a one-year, $14 million deal.

On Monday, Sam Darnold agreed to terms with the Giants, and Nick Mullens reach an agreement with the Jaguars.

The low-money deal for Jones (relative to the current market) doesn’t scream “starter.” He’ll be competing with Anthony Richardson, based on comments made by G.M. Chris Ballard at the Scouting Combine. (It’s also impossible to rule out a Richardson trade at this point.)

Jones, a top-10 pick in the 2019 draft, earned a $40 million-per-year contract from the Giants two years ago. The team had a change of heart during the 2024 season, benching him to avoid an injury that would trigger a $25 million guarantee for 2025.

He finished the year on the Minnesota depth chart, taking a spot on the 53-man roster for the postseason. Now, he’s taking a spot on the Indy roster. With a chance to play, either if Richardson gets injured (again) or if he isn’t able to win the “open” competition that Ballard has promised.

Will Daniel Jones go back to Minnesota? Or will he instead go to compete in Indianapolis?

According to Stephen Holder of ESPN, those are the two destinations Jones is currently deciding between.

Both the Vikings and Colts are awaiting his ultimate choice.

If Jones were to go back to Minnesota, he could be a bridge quarterback to 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, who is likely to become Minnesota’s QB1 sooner than later.

In theory, there could be more opportunity with Indianapolis, as the team has said there will be an “open” competition at QB. While Anthony Richardson was selected at No. 4 overall in 2023, his play over the last two seasons has induced the Colts to bring in a veteran to push him.

Jones, 27, completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,070 yards with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 starts with the Giants before the team ultimately released him. He initially signed on with Minnesota’s practice squad before being signed to the 53-man roster in January.

Last year, quarterback Sam Darnold turned low expectations into a special season. This year, the expectations will be higher.

With Darnold agreeing to terms on a three-year, $100.5 million contract in Seattle, he’ll be expected to start — and to pick up where he left off. It’s the highest bar he’s experienced since entering the league as the third overall pick in the 2018 draft.

And that didn’t end well.

Was last year an aberration? Or were his early-career experiences a direct result of being forced to play for a perennially dysfunctional team?

The Seahawks are betting that last year was the start of a trend. Darnold is making the same bet, even if he’s also the one who has hit the relative jackpot.

It’s relative because $33.5 million per year in a far cry from full market value. Sixteen quarterbacks currently have a higher annual averages. That number will move to 19, when Aaron Rodgers signs, when Brock Purdy inks an extension, and when Geno Smith gets a new deal from the Raiders (if he does).

Still, it’s starter money. Not backup, not bridge (like last year’s $10 million deal in Minnesota). The floor will be higher. The pressure will be greater. And given the case of the yips that Darnold seemed to develop in Week 18 at Detroit, it’s fair to wonder what will happen if/when Darnold feels greater heat than he ever did in 2024 — when the only threat to his status was Nick Mullens.

For Seattle, the question becomes whether a dollar-for-dollar analysis holds up. If Smith wanted more than $40 million per year and if Darnold will take $33.5 million, does it become a good deal if Darnold is more than 75 percent the performer Smith was?

Regardless, they had a multi-year proven commodity in Smith. With Darnold, it’s a roll of the dice that last year will carry over into this year.

Ryan Kelly isn’t the only former Colts interior lineman headed up North.

Guard Will Fries has also agreed to terms with the Vikings on a five-year deal, a source told PFT on Tuesday.

Fries’ deal is worth $88 million with $44 million guaranteed and $34 million fully guaranteed.

Fries, 26, was a seventh-round pick in 2021 and became a starter in 2022. He started all 17 games for Indianapolis in 2023 before again beginning the 2024 season as a starter. But a fractured tibia suffered in Week 5 kept him sidelined for the rest of the season.

Fries is No. 26 on PFT’s list of the top 100 free agents this offseason.

The Vikings also agreed to terms with Kelly — Indianapolis’ former center — on a two-year deal on Monday.