That didn’t take long.
The Worst Possible Take of the Vikings Offseason Has Arrived
Looking for the worst possible take imaginable regarding the Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 offseason? It’s here.
ESPN Radio host Paul Hembekides floated the idea Monday, suggesting the Vikings should onboard quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Cleveland Browns. Watson, in theory, would become a Viking while also nabbing pass rusher Myles Garrett from Cleveland, who requested a trade this week.
“What if the Minnesota Vikings are able or willing to take on the Deshaun Watson contract as well? So, you get out from under Deshaun, you trade away a franchise quarterback, and you make it a two-for-one instead. How, how much, how badly do you wanna get rid of the Deshaun Watson anchor?” Hembekides asked his show co-hosts.
Yes, his idea was swapping J.J. McCarthy for Myles Garrett and Deshaun Watson.
The Vikings have five quarterbacks in their roster orbit right now:
- J.J. McCarthy
- Sam Darnold
- Daniel Jones
- Nick Mullens
- Brett Rypien
Adding an injured, stained Watson just to provide the Browns some salary cap relief is as mind-boggling as it is unrealistic.
The Hembekides theory began Monday when Garrett asked for marching orders out of Cleveland. “While I’ve loved calling this city my home, my desire to win and compete on the biggest stages won’t allow me to be complacent. The goal was never to go from Cleveland to Canton, it has always been to compete for and win a Super Bowl. With that in mind, I have requested to be traded from the Cleveland Browns,” Garrett posted to social media.
Predictably, every NFL fan base rushed to the internet to spitball how its team could land Garrett via trade, as Garrett might be the NFL’s very best defender.
It just so happened that Minnesota somehow got lassoed into receiving Watson in a hypothetical scenario.
The Browns are still paying Watson’s mega contract, and in fact, the juice really starts per his cap hit in 2025 and 2026. For Minnesota to land Watson — for whatever reason — it would be providing the Browns with humanitarian relief while getting the added perk of Garrett on a team that already has outside linebackers Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Dallas Turner.
Such trade theories — Garrett for McCarthy — are now evidently fair game after the Dallas Mavericks (NBA) shipped Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for a bizarre haul that included Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 1st-Rounder. If a Dončić trade were in play in the first place, most onlookers would’ve envisioned at least four to five 1st-Rounders in the deal.
But jot this down: The Vikings won’t trade for Deshaun Watson. It’s ludicrous.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.