Dustin Baker’s 5 Bold Summer Predictions for Vikings | 2024
Bold predictions are designed to be a little ‘out there,’ so let’s dream big.
Dustin Baker’s 5 Bold Summer Predictions for Vikings | 2024
The Minnesota Vikings set sail on the summer, hoping to formulate a roster that can bounce back from an underwhelming 2023 season that resulted in a 7-10 record.
Via bold prediction, here are five ways they’ll attempt to do so. The projections are ranked in no particular order.
You can read last year’s here.
1. Cam Akers Re-Signed
For a second consecutive season, Akers will be low-risk per cost and high reward per upside. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah enjoys his affordable deals, and adding Akers makes a lot of sense for a team currently deficient at RB3.
Akers may not make a humongous thumbprint on the 2024 season, but Minnesota will give him another look.
2. Vikings Reveal All-White Uniforms — with White Helmets
Minnesota will hop on the train for uniform diversification and variety, and with that endeavor, the threads will feature all white, plus a fancy white helmet. We predict the look will mimic the Cincinnati Bengals’ beloved white uniforms.
There are some internet hints that the team will do something for snazzy new clothes, and we say white everything.
3. Kwesi Fires off a Trade for a WR like Treylon Burks
The Vikings don’t have much draft capital available to swing fancy trades during the remainder of the offseason, but if Bleacher Report’s theory from earlier this month is anywhere close to grounded in reality, the purple team should pounce.
BR’s Alex Kay sized up five theoretical trades around the NFL a couple of weeks ago, and the Vikings were included, spitballed as a landing spot for Tennessee Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks — for the price of a 7th-Round pick.
Something like that will come to fruition, as Adofo-Mensah adores sending late-round draft picks elsewhere for players with high upside. It will be a wide receiver or defensive tackle.
4. Patrick Jones II Waived
These are Minnesota’s outside linebackers on the current roster:
- OLB1: Jonathan Greenard
- OLB2: Dallas Turner
- OLB3: Andrew Van Ginkel
- OLB4: Patrick Jones II
- OLB5: Jihad Ward
- OLB6: Andre Carter II
- OLB7: Gabriel Murphy
- OLB8: Owen Porter
- OLB9: Bo Richter
The franchise will keep a maximum of six from the list, and Murphy won’t be cut. Realistically, the 2024 depth chart will have five EDGE rushers.
We predict Jones II, a man not drafted by this regime, will hit free agency.
5. Sam Darnold as the Starter Is a Total No-Brainer
For now, Vikings fans are debating which quarterback will win the QB1 job — and that’s totally fine, given the excitement of the highest draft passer in franchise history. However, when July and August arrive, folks will begin to learn that Darnold is for sure the QB1 to start the season.
Minnesota has no urgency or interest in rushing McCarthy, so he can watch and learn as long as needed.
Soon after the draft, Adofo-Mensah said about McCarthy’s upcoming development, “A lot of times when we go back over history and say, ‘These quarterbacks have missed,’ there’s a lot of hands that are dirty in that regard. And we’re going to make sure that our hands are clean and give him the best opportunity he can to be the best player he can be in this offense.”
McCarthy will play well this summer at training camp and in the preseason, but Darnold wins the QB1 job with ease.
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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