Vikings will wait and see on McCarthy as the '26 starter, aim for 'most talented and deep' QB room

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings haven't wavered in their support of J.J. McCarthy, continuing to exude optimism about his potential when publicly discussing their developing quarterback.

What they haven't done is commit to him as their starter for next season. They're certain to add a veteran to the mix, either in free agency or a trade.

“I want the Vikings to achieve our goals, and I think one of those goals is to make playoff runs,” general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “I think he has the character and ability to be the person and do that for our organization.”

Adofo-Mensah, speaking at his season-ending news conference at team headquarters on Tuesday, reiterated the NFL axiom that effective roster-building relies on flexibility and not predetermination.

“The way we’ve set this team up, we built this corridor like we’ve always talked about to give ourselves multiple shots at it,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Because you never know when there’s going to be a year where the field feels a little bit wide open and you can make that run.”

That could have been the case this season, had the Vikings decided to leave McCarthy in developmental mode and give Sam Darnold a big new contract, or at least use the franchise tag to keep him instead of watching him move to Seattle and lead the team that landed the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. The Vikings also made a strong push to re-sign Daniel Jones, who saw a more realistic scenario with Indianapolis for him to start, which turned out to be the right choice.

There's no benefit to indulging in regret or dwelling in the past, so the Vikings weren't about to do that after their 9-8 record despite McCarthy's rocky debut left them a half-game out of the playoffs.

But they're also fully aware of how much the injuries — on top of an offense at Michigan that didn't pass nearly as often as the programs that produced the other quarterback prospects in the rich 2024 draft — have set him back on the learning curve.

“It’s about having the most talented and deep quarterback room you can," coach Kevin O'Connell said. “J.J., I was really encouraged by the type of football he started to play toward the second half of the season and finishing the way he did. ... But we’re still looking at a quarterback who’s started 10 games — 10 out of a possible 34 in two years. Not the ideal path for a young quarterback to develop on the field."

That's, of course, why the Vikings need more options. Though Adofo-Mensah and O'Connell each had their contract extended a year ago, the duo that arrived in 2022 has yet to produce a win in the playoffs. So the urgency to win — and develop McCarthy — has only been heightened.

“I definitely want a competitive situation in that room, because I ultimately think that’s what will make not only the starter, but the next guy and the next guy,” O'Connell said. “We've learned we’ve got to get a lot of guys ready to play, and we’ve got to do it with a responsibility of being the best version of our offense, and the quarterback has a huge role in helping us do that.”

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Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell watches from the sideline during the first half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell runs onto the field before an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy watches from the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An astronaut in need of doctors' care departed the International Space Station with three crewmates on Wednesday in NASA's first medical evacuation.

The four returning astronauts — from the U.S., Russia and Japan — are aiming for an early Thursday morning splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego with SpaceX. The decision cuts short their mission by over a month.

“Our timing of this departure is unexpected,” NASA astronaut Zena Cardman said before the return trip, “but what was not surprising to me was how well this crew came together as a family to help each other and just take care of each other.”

Officials refused to identify the astronaut who needed care last week and would not divulge the health concerns.

The ailing astronaut is “stable, safe and well cared for,” outgoing space station commander Mike Fincke said earlier this week via social media. “This was a deliberate decision to allow the right medical evaluations to happen on the ground, where the full range of diagnostic capability exists."

Launched in August, Cardman, Fincke, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov should have remained on the space station until late February. But on Jan. 7, NASA abruptly canceled the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke and later announced the crew’s early return. Officials said the health problem was unrelated to spacewalk preparations or other station operations, but offered no other details, citing medical privacy. They stressed it was not an emergency situation.

NASA said it would stick to the same entry and splashdown procedures at flight’s end, with the usual assortment of medical experts aboard the recovery ship in the Pacific. It was another middle-of-the-night crew return for SpaceX, coming less than 11 hours after undocking from the space station. NASA said it was not yet known how quickly all four would be flown from California to Houston, home to Johnson Space Center and the base for astronauts.

One U.S. and two Russian astronauts remain aboard the orbiting lab, just 1 1/2 months into an eight-month mission that began with a Soyuz rocket liftoff from Kazakhstan. NASA and SpaceX are working to move up the launch of a fresh four-person crew from Florida, currently targeted for mid-February.

Computer modeling predicted a medical evacuation from the space station every three years, but NASA hasn't had one in its 65 years of human spaceflight. The Russians have not been as fortunate. In 1985, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Vasyutin came down with a serious infection or related illness aboard his country’s Salyut 7 space station, prompting an early return. A few other Soviet cosmonauts encountered less serious health issues that shortened their flights.

It was the first spaceflight for Cardman, a 38, biologist and polar explorer who missed out on spacewalking, as well as Platonov, 39, a former fighter pilot with the Russian air force who had to wait a few extra years to get to space because of an undisclosed health issue. Cardman should have launched last year but was bumped to make room on the way down for NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who were stuck nearly a year at the space station because of Boeing’s capsule problems.

Fincke, 58, a retired Air Force colonel, and Yui, 55, a retired fighter pilot with the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, were repeat space fliers. Finke has spent 1 1/2 years in orbit over four missions and conducted nine spacewalks on previous flights, making him one of NASA’s top performers. Last week, Yui celebrated his 300th day in space over two station stays, sharing stunning views of Earth, including Japan’s Mount Fuji and breathtaking auroras.

“I want to burn it firmly into my eyes, and even more so, into my heart,” Yui said on the social platform X. “Soon, I too will become one of those small lights on the ground.”

NASA officials had said it was riskier to leave the astronaut in space without proper medical attention for another month than to temporarily reduce the size of the space station crew by more than half. Until SpaceX delivers another crew, NASA said it will have to stand down from any routine or even emergency spacewalks, a two-person job requiring backup help from crew inside the orbiting complex.

The medical evacuation was the first major decision by NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman. The billionaire founder of a payment processing company and two-time space flier assumed the agency’s top job in December.

“The health and the well-being of our astronauts is always and will be our highest priority,” Isaacman said in announcing the decision last week.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)