Vikings Can Choose ‘Rams Method’ or ‘Bengals Method’ This Offseason
Dustin Baker
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In the blue corner, Matthew Stafford stands with his Rams behind him, stamping a ticket to the Super Bowl after a suspenseful NFC Championship win over a divisional foe, the San Francisco 49ers.
In the orange corner, upstart Joe Burrow leads the Bengals into a championship berth, knocking off the already-crowned-as-dynastic Kansas City Chiefs. The AFC Championship was a forum for meltdown by the Chiefs, a flashback to queasier times before Mahomes when Kansas City always found ways to bungle pivotal playoff moments. Cincinnati’s 2nd Half defense was phenomenal, preventing the Chiefs from continuing the high-octane 1st Half momentum.
It’s the Los Angeles Rams versus the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI – a matchup nobody outside of a few Bengals homers predicted back in September.
By happenstance, the game is a microcosm for the Vikings upcoming choice at quarterback.
New general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can stick with Kirk Cousins, a passer virtually guaranteed to stay healthy while providing 4,000+ passing yards and 30+ touchdowns per season. The vast majority of professional teams can win with a quarterback showcasing such production. But not the Vikings. Minnesota is in the process of determining why that sheer volume of quarterback proficiency doesn’t quite work for them.
Think about how weird that is.
In this regard – keeping Cousins as QB1 for 2022 and beyond – the Vikings can choose the Stafford-Rams route, employing Cousins for additional seasons and fortifying a roster around him. The Rams utilize a fabulous pass-protecting offensive line, something the Vikings haven’t experienced since about 2010. Plus, Los Angeles has men like Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Cooper Kupp, Von Miller, and Odell Beckham on its roster. Those men make Stafford look really, really good in a league suddenly highjacked by quarterback-everything. Stafford was not skewered in Detroit for his Lions habitually losing, but he is exalted for carrying the Rams to the Super Bowl. The “QB Record” statistic should die because of that last sentence.
Minnesota has the option to build a depth chart around Cousins – like most teams do for their quarterback – or cast him aside for a signal-caller on a rookie deal, using the chunky dollar signs associated with Cousins on defensive players and offensive linemen.
This is the Burrow-Bengals route.
If the Vikings trade Cousins, Adofo-Mensah will receive an undetermined haul of draft picks to spend on the next quarterback – probably a man arriving from the 2022 NFL Draft. Then, Adofo-Mensah and fans pray the youngster is as good as Joe Burrow. It’s that simple. Thrown in the towel on Cousins because he’s not elite like Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers, entering with two feet the sweepstakes of finding the next Joe Burrow.
And if the organization drafts a man from April’s draft who stinks, well, this process repeats every three years akin to the cycle actionized by the New York Jets. Keep swinging for the fences until a Burrowesque player is obtained.
These are the stakes.
The camps are defined. Build around an expensive veteran passer like the Rams – or roll the dice with undying hope of procuring a rookie-phenom passer.
Both strategies are available to execute. Adofo-Mensah must decide what works best for the Minnesota Vikings. His eyes are fresh to the situation.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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