There have been rumors swirling for weeks that several teams could be interested in upgrading at the quarterback position. On Saturday night, those rumors were put to motion as the Los Angeles Rams acquired Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions in exchange for Jared Goff and multiple draft picks.
The deal has a residual effect on the Minnesota Vikings. While they get to reap the benefits of not having to face Stafford twice a year, it also allows them to reflect on what they’re doing at the quarterback position. With so many QBs changing teams this year, there will be a flurry of activity and a way for the Vikings to make an upgrade. The bigger question is whether it’s worth trying to before next season.
If the Vikings are looking for a reason to keep Kirk Cousins, they need to look no further than what he did last season. By throwing for 4,265 yards, 35 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, Cousins has shown he can run the offense effectively in Minnesota. They don’t need to move him before next season.
But at this point, the NFL landscape is a simple case of supply and demand. While the Rams have solidified their quarterback position to acquire Stafford, several other teams will be looking for a new quarterback. Teams like Washington, the Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos and even the rival Chicago Bears will be looking for an upgrade. If they are dangling Cousins after one of the best seasons of his career, they may find a team willing to take on his contract.
By trading Cousins, however, the Vikings would create another hole at football’s most important position. He can lead the Vikings to a playoff berth, especially if Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr and Michael Pierce help improve Minnesota’s 29th ranked defense from last season.
On the other hand, teams like Indianapolis, Denver and Chicago are in the same situation the Vikings were in before signing Cousins in 2018. They may look at Cousins and say, If he could do that for us, we may have what it takes to get to the Super Bowl.
In some ways, it’s a situation similar to what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went through before this season. Jameis Winston put up a solid season with over 5,000 yards in 2019, but he threw for 30 interceptions, and Tampa decided to make an upgrade. They were able to recruit Tom Brady, and now they are in the Super Bowl.
While Cousins doesn’t have the same credibility as Brady does, he would help a team make themselves better, which would mean that the Vikings wouldn’t need to attach as much to a deal as the Rams had to with Goff. Both players are typically lumped into the same tier as other play-action QBs, but Cousins was the 10th-best quarterback according to Pro Football Focus while Goff ranked 26th.
The problem is that general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer might need to win now to keep their jobs. After going 7-9 last season behind a slew of strange personnel decisions (think the Yannick Ngakoue trade), the Vikings likely need to push toward a playoff berth to convince ownership things are going in the right direction. Hence, trading Cousins for a bunch of draft picks wouldn’t seem to make sense unless they got something back.
The ultimate pipe dream for Vikings fans is to use Cousins to help acquire Deshaun Watson or Dak Prescott. Both of those quarterbacks could be available this offseason and ranked higher than Cousins did on PFF’s grades, but it is unlikely that either of them ends up in Minnesota. Watson has multiple suitors, a high price tag and a no-trade clause. Prescott probably isn’t leaving Dallas. A more realistic option is to bring someone in who might not have as much upside but would allow the Vikings to set themselves up better for the future.
One rumored destination for Cousins is the San Francisco 49ers. With his previous ties to head coach Kyle Shanahan, the Niners might make a reasonable offer for Cousins. However, Jimmy Garoppolo holds a no-trade clause, so it’s uncertain how they make the salaries match if he nixes the trade.
They could try and take advantage of another team looking for a quarterback and add assets. Take the Raiders, for example. While Derek Carr wasn’t on the same level as Cousins, the Vikings could engineer a swap that sends Cousins to Vegas and brings back Carr and several draft picks. This would give the Vikings a younger quarterback to work with and a chance to add more things around him to succeed.
Let’s say the Raiders would be willing to give up their second-round selection and a 2022 first-round pick to acquire Cousins. Carr comes with a $22.5 million cap hit for next season but has just $2.5 million in dead money remaining on the contract and could keep the Vikings afloat. The added draft capital could entice the Vikings to trade up for a long-term quarterback and use the cap savings to go after a guard, a third wide receiver or whatever they would need in free agency.
It would be a lateral move on the field. But it would open another avenue of possibilities for the Vikings to field a competitive roster now and in the future.
