Vikings Have Absolute Perfect Storm
Dustin Baker
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Fourteen weeks of the Minnesota Vikings’ offseason are in the rearview, with free agency basically over and the 2024 NFL Draft nine days away.
Vikings Have Absolute Perfect Storm
The club has signed 14 new free agents this offseason, re-upped with internal players, and even executed a blockbuster trade in March to prepare for the draft, which will feel like a humongous crescendo. All Vikings fans’ eyes have turned to the draft, and rightfully so. The organization needs a quarterback of the future after Kirk Cousins departed for the Atlanta Falcons five weeks ago.
Thankfully for its sake, Minnesota has the perfect storming brewing to nail the draft on a quarterback of the future.
Here’s why — with the reasons listed in ascending order of importance.
5. Kirk Cousins Out of the Way
The divisive creature is gone; he doesn’t work here anymore.
Had the Vikings re-signed Cousins, the new quarterback would genuinely have to wait until Cousins was ready to pass the torch. Now, however, Sam Darnold is in the house, and nobody anywhere will hesitate to bench him for Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy, for example.
Minnesota — as a football team — is screaming, “We’re ready for a rookie quarterback,” a realization that arose the moment Cousins signed in Atlanta.
4. Financial Pairing with Justin Jefferson
Somebody in the Vikings organization, probably the general manager, identified this spot — the here and now — as the time when Jefferson would be extended for megabucks while the non-Cousins quarterback earned an affordable paycheck for 4-5 years.
Jefferson hasn’t entered his prime yet — that’s wild to ponder — and conveniently, his new quarterback will experience the best years of Jefferson’s career.
The books are established to make Jefferson the keynote breadwinner, offset by the rookie quarterback’s salary. Teams can’t typically do both; the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, and Tyreek Hill can attest. So can the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers, and Davante Adams.
3. A GM Willing to Be Risky
How do we know Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is willing to be bold and risky? His lips.
“I think just because something is risky doesn’t mean you have to stay away from it. It is something that is hard to grasp, but if you grasp it, you know what the rewards are. And that is something you have to weigh and measure. You can’t look at these decisions in a vacuum. I think the last couple of years, the results (are out there) of the quarterbacks that were drafted,” Adofo-Mensah told reporters last week.
The young executive is ready to take a swing — likely a big one.
2. Kevin O’Connell + Josh McCown
Minnesota employs two former quarterbacks at the top of the ticket to mentor, develop, and nurture the would-be rookie quarterback. It doesn’t get any better than that — it really doesn’t — for a young quarterback. O’Connell and McCown weren’t gangbusters as players, but that may heighten their ability to teach and sympathize.
If the purple team can’t develop a quarterback with two former versions at the helm, one must wonder if the franchise really is cursed. Jokes aside.
1. The Offensive Infrastructure
- Justin Jefferson
- T.J. Hockenson
- Jordan Addison
- Christian Darrisaw
- Brian O’Neill
- Aaron Jones
- Ty Chandler
Other NFL offenses may run smoother in 2024, but few have the firepower as the Vikings. And most of the men will be back in 2025 if the anonymous rookie quarterback must wait until his second season to take the baton.
This is it. The weaponry really cannot get too much more explosive, and if the next quarterback flames out, it will be because he personally wasn’t cut out for the pros. Everything else — everything — is tailor-made for a young signal-caller to thrive.
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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