March 13, 2024. Newly signed Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Kirk Cousins sits down with Falcons Digital Producer Taylor Vismor to discuss his signing with the Falcons. Kirk talks about the exciting playmaking roster he is joining and what a move to Atlanta means to him and his family.
VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s Vikings rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the April 13th edition.
Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.
Here’s the first batch of the week.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote this week, “Maybe the Vikings are quietly holding out hope that the end result of the investigation regarding Atlanta’s blatant tampering with Cousins (and it was blatant, frankly) will result in a flip-flop of picks No. 8 and No. 11. (There’s no specific reason to think that will happen, but it’s not impossible that the league would select this sanction — and announce it literally five minutes before the draft starts.)”
And then Florio doubled down on Friday, “The Falcons have the eighth pick in round one. The Vikings have the eleventh. What if the punishment is as simple as the Falcons and Vikings flip-flopping the two picks? The NFL set the precedent last year, with the sudden and unexpected news of the Cardinals-Eagles settlement. It would make sense for it to happen again, between the Falcons and the Vikings.”
Unfortunately, we don’t believe the penalty will be this severe, and if anything, the punishment will involve a non-1st-Round pick swap.
According to the team’s boss, the Vikings love multiple quarterbacks in this deep class. “When you go back to the team element and value, I think there’s multiple guys that we are in love with just on an outright basis. But there’s other guys we’re in love with given what, if we get them at a certain value, what they’d also be able to come with,” he told the media about his staff’s quarterback scouting.
This is a good thing. It means Minnesota has options and won’t be pigeonholed into one specific player.
“So, as I talked about earlier, skill-set-wise, if you’re talking about the ability to overcome context — well, if the guy has less ability but we have assets to go get somebody who is not going to put him in that situation, those things add up, too,” Adofo-Mensah mentioned about more than one quarterback on his club’s radar.
This aligns with the fan- and media-driven theory that the Vikings end up with either Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy.
“Drake Maye is the kind of player that will get you fired. Especially if you draft him in the top five or top three, he’s going to get you fired,” former NFL running back Merrill Hoge told WCCO last week.
It’s a rare and outlandish draft take from Hoge, as most pundits believe Maye has one of the highest upsides in this draft class. Of course, he can tweak his footwork and decision-making, but that applies to every rookie. Moreover, the statement is odd because any quarterback taken in the draft’s Top 3, 5, or 10 who fails would likely get a general manager or head coach fired.
Thankfully, many of Hoge’s draft takes in the past turned out wacky. Four years ago, he claimed Justin Herbert was “too slow” for the pros and lacked the proper “twitch” to thrive as a professional.
Hoge also claimed 16 years ago that Brian Brohm, a Green Bay Packers draft pick, would surpass Aaron Rodgers on the depth chart while the cheese team was kicking off life after Brett Favre. That was wrong.
In reality, it doesn’t really matter what Hoge thinks.
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 MIN 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.