Another Top QB Linked to Vikings Rumor Mill
Trade for Justin Fields, offload Justin Jefferson for draft assets, and sign Russell Wilson — those are the latest and wild theories about the Minnesota Vikings offseason, which began just 10 days ago.
Fasten your seatbelt; the fringe concepts won’t stop.
Another Top QB Linked to Vikings Rumor Mill
This time, The Athletic blazed through the Vikings rumor mill this week, connecting Kirk Cousins to Miami and seeming to imply that Tua Tagovailoa could end up as a Viking.
Cousins is scheduled to hit free agency in March, or eight weeks from now, if no extension is reached. The constant businessman, Cousins always accrues fat stacks of guaranteed cash from the Vikings and Washington Commanders before Minnesota, and there’s no tangible reason to believe 2024 will be different.
Quoting an anonymous NFL executive, The Athletic’s Mike Sando wrote this week, “Your upside with Tua certainly seems limited. So let’s say you can trade him. I would be exploring, ‘OK, Tua, we can win games with, probably not winning a championship with. Kirk Cousins, we can win games with, probably not winning a championship with. But our resources are better spent on Cousins plus draft picks than they are on just Tua.”
Tagovailoa is due for an extension, like Cousins, but his team’s performance versus winning teams in 2023 was quite concerning.
Sando also mentioned, “Put Tagovailoa on the Falcons and Atlanta could have the best quarterback in the division. The Vikings would need a quarterback if Cousins departed. Could the Rams be interested if Matthew Stafford retired? Trading Tagovailoa for Stafford would be even better if the right set of circumstances made it feasible.”
Tagovailoa’s rookie deal runs out in 2024 after Miami exercised the coveted fifth-year option. He’ll earn about $23 million in 2024, and his next deal should fetch between $40-$50 million annually.
Sando again quoted an NFL exec, “If you could get a 2 and a 3 for Tua and sign Kirk, I’d want to make sure I felt comfortable about having him for three years from a health standpoint. I do think Tua works much better in a domed stadium where you know half your games are played in pristine conditions.”
Tagovailoa in Minnesota would assuredly excite some Vikings fans — he’s only 25, and Cousins is 35 — and folks would just have to hope he turned the corner with Kevin O’Connell’s tutelage.
Like most early offseason theories, however, Tagovailoa to the Vikings is unlikely to materialize. Minnesota is likelier to re-sign Cousins for a year or two, draft a rookie quarterback — or both.
Finally, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Tagovailoa reportedly didn’t share a spotless relationship in Miami with Flores as head coach, so a reunion in that vein would also be strange.
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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