INDIANAPOLIS — The past 33 years in the NFL and 27 with the Vikings have shaped Rob Brzezinski's philosophy that the business is "about the people and an alignment."
He explained that Tuesday at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine when asked during a session with Twin Cities media members about who will be Minnesota's ultimate decision maker during free agency and the draft.
"K.O. (Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell) and I are going to work very, very closely together to make sure that the personnel staff and the coaching staff are aligned, and that we're just going to stack good decisions here in this time period," Brzezinski said. "We're not going to try to manufacture anything that's not there. We're going to do what's in the best interest of the Minnesota Vikings in 2026 and beyond. And I just feel very, very confident about my relationship with K.O. and in the relationships in the building overall."
The quarterback position is again central to Minnesota's offseason as the team prepares for free agency, which opens March 11, and the draft (April 23-25).
The continued development of J.J. McCarthy and an effort to add competition and depth will be incredibly important.
O'Connell spoke with Paul Allen and Pete Bercich during an interview that aired on KFAN and Vikings.com Wednesday and noted McCarthy is taking advantage of being healthy this offseason, participating in workouts with private quarterbacks coach John Beck, a 2007 second-round pick of the Dolphins.
"He's going to have a healthy offseason, which with his journey up until this point, he's gotten 10 starts where we've been able to see a lot of the things that we really, really liked about J.J. when we drafted him," O'Connell said. "We've seen some growth, some of that development over time, but we're still talking about quite a few opportunities of that growth and development phase [that have been] missed.
"He knows this is a big offseason for him. He didn't need anybody to tell him that. He certainly didn't need me to tell him that, but what I've really enjoyed about our conversations early on is he is hungry," O'Connell added. "He's out in California right now working with John Beck and some of the guys that he worked with pre-draft, very detailed in what he wanted to decompress after the season and go through layer by layer: 'What do I need to individually work on to make sure I come back ready to roll in April?' He's working on those things.
"His continued growth in our offense and schemes will be a natural thing. He's a really smart player. I think he's going to be able to use a lot of that experience of those 10 games in the journey so far to get himself in position to have the best 2026 he can. We've talked about it, we want him to be in a competitive situation because of some of that time lost," O'Connell added. "We've really got to push the gas pedal down and not replace development and coaching and teaching with anything but really enhance it with a really competitive situation that I think our whole team will benefit from. [We're] pretty early in that process, but I'm excited about it."
Brzezinski said QB is "the most important position on our team" and compared the focus on competition to every other position on the roster.
"We have a ton of confidence in J.J. McCarthy. He's been through a lot of adversity, and guess what? This is a really, really hard job with a lot of pressure," Brzezinski said. "I think even in our organization and with our history, everybody's yearning for that young franchise quarterback."
Brzezinski said he believes some criticism of McCarthy has been excessive.
"He is a fabulous person, he cares, he works really hard, he wants to be successful and he wants to win," Brzezinski said.
As to what the Vikings could do within the room, a return of veteran Carson Wentz, who is scheduled to become a free agent, has not been ruled out.
"I think we were incredibly fortunate to have Carson join our team when he did last year," O'Connell said. "You look back at some of the things Carson did when he stepped in for J.J, Carson Wentz showed up about five days before the season started. He was not a part of our offseason program, not a part of the greater sum of training camp, and for him to come in the way he did and be ready to step in the way he did … plays a phenomenal game against Cincinnati, and that is a veteran quarterback that has done a lot of things at a high level throughout his career. He absolutely is a guy that made our quarterbacks room better, even with our late arrival and is definitely somebody that we're thinking about."
If the Vikings don't return the 33-year-old with 99 career regular-season starts, then they could sign another free agent (either one with a contract scheduled to expire or one who is released) or execute a trade.
"I don't think we're ruling anything out. I mean, honestly, we're exploring all possibilities. And what we do know is we need a level of baseline quarterback play for us to be effective," Brzezinski said. "A lot of this has been J.J. [having some unfortunate scenarios], with some of the injuries and things that he's dealt with, but we're going to explore every opportunity, and I don't think there's anything specifically we're looking for. Again, we can't manufacture anything that's not there. So number one, what are the options? Is it reciprocal? Is it financially doable? All those things. There's just a lot of factors that go into it."
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