NFL Insider Ignites Trey Lance to Vikings Chatter All over Again
When the Minnesota Vikings 2023 season ends, all the focus regarding the franchise will swarm to the quarterback position.
There’s no way around it.
NFL Insider Ignites Trey Lance to Vikings Chatter All over Again
Current QB1 Kirk Cousins is under contract for just one more season — this one — meaning he’ll hit free agency in March if nothing happens between now and then. Like Derek Carr last year in Las Vegas, this could be Cousins’ final season in Minnesota, especially if the Vikings don’t win a playoff game or two.
And thanks to the San Francisco 49ers decision-making this week, the Vikings are theoretical players for the budding Trey Lance trade sweepstakes.
Minnesota has been linked to Lance in the shadows for two straight offseasons, with chatter really ramping up last March and April when the Vikings didn’t extend Cousins beyond 2023 and the 49ers appeared poised to hand the QB1 job to Brock Purdy or Sam Darnold.
The Purdy + Darnold predictions became reality Wednesday, as San Francisco handed Purdy the QB1 baton for 2023 and tabbed Darnold for QB2. Lance was the odd man out and tentatively entered the trade rumor mill.
A native Minnesotan, trade ideas involving Lance earsplittingly flowed after the 49ers nominated Purdy as QB1, and naturally, the Vikings topped the list of hypothetical suitors. This go-round, it wasn’t just local Minneapolis media pounding the table for Lance or NDSU fans stirring the pot.
NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport legitimized the possibility of Lance to Minnesota with one tweet, “As the 49ers weigh options for Trey Lance, calling his hometown team, the Vikings (who were a rumored destination before the Draft) makes sense. Nothing is impossible, but MIN has a backup in Nick Mullens and drafted rookie QB in Jaren Hall. Post-draft, these deals are harder.”
Rapoport usually avoids cooking up personal theories on what he thinks could or should happen, perhaps tipping his cap to insider intel. Last year, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah executed a handful of trades involving former high-round draft picks, including deals for T.J. Hockenson, Jalen Reagor, and Ross Blacklock. Adding Lance via trade for low-round draft capital would match his style.
Another NFL reporter, too, offered an oddly specific Lance-to-Minnesota proposition Wednesday. KOA Colorado’s Benjamin Allbright tweeted, “My gut says that San Francisco and Minnesota work out a deal that involves Lance for a pass rusher with picks going both ways.”
Like Rapoport, Allbright wouldn’t serve up a random trade package without preexisting knowledge.
The Vikings are committed to Cousins for 2023; that is undisputed. Yet, thereafter, it’s a far-reaching guessing game on the next guy’s identity, whether it’s a Cousins extension, a high-round draft pack spent on QB in 2024, all-in on Jaren Hall, a trade for a veteran like Kyler Murray — or Lance.
Lance’s trade value is at its lowest point to date as a pro.
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Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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