Vikings announce Blockbuster Trade to Replace Cousins, Insider Reveals

Minnesota Vikings fans still snakebitten by the idea a rookie quarterback could be the next Christian Ponder fret no more — the Vikings intend to trade up and secure a blue-chip quarterback prospect if they truly plan to move on from Kirk Cousins.

Star Tribune reporter Ben Goessling revealed that the new Vikings regime under Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is inclined to take a swing at a top quarterback prospect by trading up instead of settling for whichever prospect falls to them at No. 11.

“If they’re going to take one, it’s going to be someone we love or we’re not doing it,” Goessling told KFAN’s Paul Allen on January 23. “If you have to give up a couple first-round picks for future years, I don’t think they’d bat an eye at that.”

Vikings Have Never Drafted a QB Inside the Top 10

GettyDaunte Culpepper (11), Christian Ponder (7) and Teddy Bridgewater (5) are the only quarterbacks the Vikings have selected in the first round since 1977.

The NFL has shown that not all first-round quarterback prospects are equal. There is a first tier worthy of a top-five pick, followed by a slide later in the first round.

The Vikings’ history of drafting quarterbacks in the first round hasn’t proven to bring the team a true franchise player who sticks around for a decade.

Ponder, the fourth quarterback taken in the 2011 draft at No. 12 overall, did not receive a second contract in Minnesota. Teddy Bridgewater, selected 32nd overall in 2014, had his development foiled by a devastating leg injury that led to his release. Daunte Culpepper, drafted No. 11 overall in 1999, is the only other quarterback taken in the first round since 1977.

Cousins was signed in 2018 as the final piece to a playoff-ready roster. But after years of atrophy, Minnesota needs reinforcements at numerous spots, and a quarterback on a rookie-scale deal would provide cap relief needed to make valuable veteran free-agent signings.

Goessling added, “They have certainly looked at this as “we need to get the guy with whom we can plant our flag for the next ten years and if it costs a lot to do that, so be it.” ” I don’t believe they will limp in on this, in a manner of speaking, and be like, ‘All things considered, on the off chance that it’s QB5 and we’re somewhat good with him we should accept him in any case.’ “

Assuming the Vikings front office persuades itself the group is near contending, the probable result would expand Cousins. Nonetheless, even after a 13-win season in 2022, the Vikings thought about tracking down their future quarterback.

“They saw it the year before. They presumably didn’t have sufficient cash-flow to get up to three or four [to get Anthony Richardson]. Richardson, Stroud, Youthful, they loved each of them three,” Goessling said.

Vikings Have Previously Opened the Entryway for Cousins’ Takeoff

Cousins’ six seasons in Minnesota have been set apart with dependability at the quarterback position and delivered a 50-37-1 normal season record.

In any case, as the last piece of a program prepared to win, every one of the Vikings could summon was a trump card prevail upon the New Orleans Holy people in 2020. From that point forward, Cousins’ expansions have been simply a grip at keeping the cutthroat window open while the program has decayed because of unfortunate drafting and an absence of cap space.

The Vikings only have nine players who are 27 years old or younger and in their prime who they can build around to be regular contributors to. The 2022 draft class has not contributed true to form, and the absence of profundity was clear late in the season.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah stated in his end-of-year news conference that taking a step back does not matter when the ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl, even though giving up on Cousins — a path the Vikings opened by declining to extend him to a discounted deal last offseason — may seem like a step backward.

“Making a stride back in the transient is definitely not no joking matter in the event that you don’t believe you’re not kidding,” Adofo-Mensah said, per The Athletic.

Moving off Cousins permits the Vikings to get from under a veteran quarterback contract and reload the list with valued free specialists with the additional monetary adaptability — something Adofo-Mensah has supported for the Vikings’ sake during past talks with Cousins.

Whether the Vikings completely finish a blockbuster arrangement will still up in the air when Walk when free office opens and Cousins is allowed to sign with another group.