As Kirk Cousins continues to be involved in trade rumors, now seems like a good time to flashback to last summer. With action at a standstill due to the pandemic, I decided to pose a theory: Carson Wentz would be the quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings in 2022.
The reaction to the article gained a lot of steam as angry Philadelphia Eagles fans asked why their team would trade their starting quarterback.
Instead, Wentz slumped through the 2020 season and found himself benched in favor of second-round pick Jalen Hurts. With the relationship between Wentz and head coach Doug Pederson “fractured,” the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft has been on the block. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, this hasn’t changed after Philadelphia replaced Pederson with Nick Sirianni.
With the once-crazy idea of Wentz being traded becoming a reality and Cousins in the rumor mill, is it possible that I was a year too early on the Wentz-to-Minnesota steam? And what would happen if the Vikings actually pulled the trigger on a Cousins-for-Wentz swap?
If the Vikings were to explore a deal for Cousins, the main objective should be to put them in a better position regarding the salary cap and find a way to acquire more assets for a bigger move. This could include a trade-up in the 2021 NFL Draft or dealing for an established player like Deshaun Watson.
In this example, it’s hard to figure out where Wentz would fit in when it comes to fixing the salary cap. Both the Vikings and the Eagles would benefit from making this swap a post-June 1st move, which would create $21 million in cap room for the Vikings and free up $15.3 million for the Eagles.
It would also get both teams under the salary cap as the Vikings ($14.6 million) and the Eagles ($51.4 million) find themselves way over Spotrac’s projected $175 million cap in 2021. While trading for Jimmy Garoppolo would create a better cap situation, the Vikings also inherit an out in Wentz’s contract in 2022, which would create $22 million in cap room as a post-June 1st release.
That path would get Minnesota out of quarterback purgatory a year sooner than expected and allow them to pursue a quarterback of the future in this year’s draft. With the off-chance that Philadelphia would be willing to unload picks to get rid of Wentz’s contract in the same fashion the Los Angeles Rams did with Jared Goff, the Vikings could also have extra ammo to make their move.
But the biggest factor complicating any trade involving Cousins is that the Vikings are not interested in bottoming out. With general manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer presumably fighting for their jobs next season, they want to find a quarterback who can win games even if he’s a placeholder for someone else.
One of the biggest arguments for Wentz returning to the form that made him an MVP candidate in 2017 is the supporting cast around him. During that season, Wentz played with the top-rated offensive line in football, which helped mask his deficiencies at the skill positions. The result was Wentz’s best season to date before tearing his ACL.
Four years after their Super Bowl run, which was finished off by Nick Foles, Wentz has been a disaster. Alshon Jeffrey was once Wentz’s top target but is no longer the player he once was and has been replaced by Travis Fulgham and Jalen Reagor, who might be replacement players in their own right. In the backfield, Miles Sanders graded as the 50th running back among qualifiers by PFF and tight end Zach Ertz faded into oblivion midway through the season.
The conclusion here is that Wentz needs better weapons around him, which is something that Minnesota can provide. With Jefferson, Adam Thielen, and Dalvin Cook, Wentz should be able to have an uptick in play pending what the Vikings can do with their offensive line. Also, Wentz offers more mobility than Cousins, which could help the o-line’s performance.
But what if Wentz is just a flawed quarterback? As The Film Room’s Brett Kollman suggested, Wentz has several flaws that you don’t want to see from a 29-year-old quarterback, which makes him more than just a Cousins clone.
With the financial gymnastics that it would take to acquire Wentz and the flaws that have to be worked out, he’s less of a sure thing. There is the chance the Vikings could flip Wentz as part of a bigger move, but that would just leave them without a quarterback after parting with Cousins, who just threw a franchise-record 35 touchdowns.
In other words, seeing the Vikings trade for Wentz would be a simple case of overthinking their quarterback situation. This is also something you could say about any of the other quarterbacks the Vikings would acquire to create more flexibility in the long term. With Schefter reporting that they are not fielding offers for Cousins, it’s unlikely to happen anyway.
But the chances of Wentz getting moved in a deal similar to this are much greater than they were a year ago.
