Inside The Vikings

Kay Adams on 2025 Vikings: 'I think they're gonna win the Super Bowl'

Adams is quite confident in J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings heading into this NFL season.

Will Ragatz

Feb 7, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kay Adams (left) interviews Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson on the Up & Adams set on Radio Row at the Super Bowl LIX media center.
Feb 7, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kay Adams (left) interviews Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson on the Up & Adams set on Radio Row at the Super Bowl LIX media center. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Kay Adams is all aboard the Minnesota Vikings hype train heading into the 2025 season. At this point, she might even be driving it.

"I think they're gonna win the Super Bowl," she said to NBC's Chris Simms on the latest episode of her Up & Adams show Monday.

The context was a discussion about the 2024 class of first-round quarterbacks, which includes Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, and Bo Nix. That group, particularly Daniels and Nix, got off to a strong start last season. Williams and Maye are among those who showed promise and are looking to make second-year leaps. The wild card is McCarthy, who didn't play a snap as a rookie due to a torn meniscus.

"We haven't seen J.J. McCarthy, but he's obviously in a spot to succeed there with that coach and that talent," Simms said. "The Vikings are in a Super Bowl window."

A bit later, Simms went in the other direction when asked which of those QBs he's the most worried about.

"There's nobody I'm terribly worried about," he said. "I guess J.J. McCarthy's the one where you go — 'wait, they went 14-3 last year, they had Sam Darnold last year, (McCarthy) hasn't played football in a year.' It's a team that I think flirted with Aaron Rodgers a little bit because they looked at it and went 'wait, we're a Super Bowl team, like right now. Do we want to really depend on —"

And that's when Adams interjected with her take that the Vikings are going to win it all.

"Well, if J.J. McCarthy, he doesn't even have to play A-plus football, if he can just play B-plus football, they'll have a chance," Simms said. "I'm excited to see that, but he's the one I'd maybe question the most."

"Yeah, I would too, and then I met him and, just like a total fan, just fell for him," Adams replied. "I met him down in Mayakoba at the NFLPA Classic, and I go 'oh, you are a winner.' And just how Case (Keenum) was talking about him, how Harrison (Smith) was talking about him. The OGs. (Adam) Thielen, the way he was speaking to me. I bought every stock."

There's certainly a case that can be made that the Vikings will be legitimate contenders this year if McCarthy is the guy they believe him to be. Everything is set up for this team to win a lot of games, provided they get good quarterback play from the 22-year-old. The offensive line should be excellent, the weapons are elite, the defense is loaded, the coaching staff is among the league's best. You can nitpick maybe a question mark at cornerback, but this is a stacked roster that just needs McCarthy to deliver.

Adams clearly thinks he will.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.

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