Vikings Reportedly Don’t Care about the Cost to Get Their Guy
Teams complement their rosters in free agency. By adding a couple of players to fill holes, they improve their roster. However, the most significant part of every offseason is the draft, as organizations can find players that become true staples of their franchise. Identifying and drafting a franchise quarterback can decide the fate of a team for a decade, and the Vikings intend to do that in 2024.
Vikings Reportedly Don’t Care about the Cost to Get Their Guy
It is a paramount offseason for the Vikings, a team that reached a crossroads with their starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins. They must either hand him a new deal, or he’ll walk in free agency. A successor is not in the building, and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah must find that guy in the draft.
The 11th overall pick is enough to get a quarterback, but it surely isn’t enough to get one of the top prospects. For that reason, the Vikings might be eyeing a trade-up, although those are costly. According to Ben Goessling from the Star Tribune, they are willing to do that.
The reporter appeared with Paul Allen on KFAN on Tuesday, and his remarks were quite interesting.
If they’re going to take one, it’s going to be someone we love or we’re not doing it. 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.
They have certainly looked at this as ‘we need to get the guy that we can plant our flag with for the next 10 years and if it costs a lot to do that, so be it. I don’t think they’re going to limp in on this, so to speak, and be like, ‘Well, if it’s QB5 and we’re kind of OK with him let’s take him anyway.’
Ben Goessling
If Goessling is correct, the draft and the offseason suddenly got much more exciting. The franchise has been unable to find a true franchise quarterback; the closest was Daunte Culpepper for only five years, free-agent signing Kirk Cousins, and Tommy Kramer in the 80s.
The last two first-round picks at the most important position were Christian Ponder and Teddy Bridgewater. Both signal-callers were picked by ex-GM Rick Spielman and flamed out rather quickly. Neither ever looked like a true franchise quarterback, someone who can put his team in a position to win a Super Bowl or at least compete for the big game annually like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, or Josh Allen do.
For that reason, it is a fun thought to finally get the guy instead of picking someone available, but the decision-makers don’t really like him. Just a year ago, Adofo-Mensah reportedly tried to trade up for the top three QBs but passed the falling Will Levis to pick Jordan Addison.
The Vikings currently hold the 11th overall pick after dropping the season’s final four games. They haven’t drafted this early in a decade. USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, and LSU’s Jayden Daniels are expected to be out of reach at that spot, leaving Bo Nix (Oregon), J.J. McCarthy (Michigan), and Michael Penix (Washington).
Getting one of those top three guys likely requires a move into the top three picks unless one of those teams falls in love with another prospect like Marvin Harrison Jr. Those picks currently belong to the Chicago Bears (first overall), the Washington Commanders (second overall), and the New England Patriots (third overall) and all of those franchises also need quarterbacks.
That move costs a large amount of assets, likely one or two additional first-rounders in addition to the 11th overall pick and some more picks or players, but according to Goessling, the Vikings don’t care about that. And one thing is obvious, if the guy is any good, neither do the fans. No Chiefs fan has ever complained about trading up for Patrick Mahomes since his emergence.
The Vikings tried to do it last year, according to Goessling: “They looked at it last year. They probably didn’t have quite enough capital to get up to three or four [to get Anthony Richardson]. Richardson, Stroud, Young, they liked all three of them.”
The draft will take place on April 25 in Detroit, and the Vikings intend to be major players.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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