Wait, the Vikings Could Trade for Trey Lance AND Keep Cousins? Here’s How..
As the hot stove surrounding trade rumors with 49ers quarterback Trey Lance started to heat up, it was only a matter of time before the ties between the San Francisco organization and the Minnesota Vikings started popping up again.
Early Wednesday morning, NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport tweeted that the 49ers have once again started fielding multiple calls from teams inquiring about a potential trade to acquire the former 3rd overall selection Trey Lance via trade leading up to the draft.
Then, on the heels of this report, it only took ESPN a few hours to release their latest Mock Draft, which included a doozy of a trade at the 23rd overall selection with the Minnesota Vikings and 49ers while using the Eagles as a conduit to make it all lineup.
Wait, the Vikings Could Trade for Trey Lance AND Keep Cousins? Here’s How..
The trade, as highlighted in their post, sends Trey Lance along with SF’s 3rd- and 6th-round picks to the Vikings along with a 2nd-round pick from the Eagles. In return, Minnesota would send their 1st round pick (23) and QB Nick Mullens to the 49ers, with a future 4th going to the Eagles as well. The 49ers would also send a few 3rds to the Eagles to make it worthwhile for them.
Lance’s value is all over the board. Once one of the most dynamic prospects to step into the NFL, his value has dipped due to injury, lack of proven development, and the fact that the 49ers have already named Brock Purdy the QB of their future. So the time to strike on all sides may be next week’s draft.
But there are two sides to this coin…
On the first side, the Vikings could get a potential future franchise quarterback into the mix without throwing the 2023 season completely out the window. While Lance hasn’t exactly wowed in his limited opportunities, he would have a year to transition to Minnesota behind Kirk Cousins. He could learn the system, get some reps, and the team could still have a proven option in Cousins to feed Justin Jefferson and get some wins along the way.
Then, after a season’s worth of first-hand observations and opinions, you have a decision to make. Open the table to extension discussions with Kirk, which might be more expensive given the path you’ve taken, or to cut bait on #8 and take a risk on the final few years of Lance’s rookie deal?
Flipping over to the other side, this trade would throw away your 1st-round pick, gain you a late second and bump you back further in the 3rd. For a team that has needs on the defensive line, at wide receiver, at cornerback, and always on the offensive line, you’re not giving up nothing to make this move.
You would have to step into this with a great deal of confidence that Lance will work out because a scenario where Lance never steps into the franchise role, and you don’t have a ’23 first-round selection could be devastating to the future prospects of this team and would potentially either waste the window with Justin Jefferson or push him out of Minnesota entirely. That’s a significant risk.
Is it intriguing enough to do?
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has always held close to his vest his tactics moving into the offseason, and we don’t fully know how he operates after just one draft as a GM. If his advanced analytics tell him that there is a potential Hurts, Jackson, or Allen somewhere inside of Lance, this is the kind of splash with which he could make a mark. That said, he would likely be leveraging his future as an NFL GM on this one deal.
Early results in the comment section of my latest tweets seem to be tapping into the fatalism of Minnesota Sports fans…what do you think?
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