Like many things with the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL Scouting Combine is a collision of two worlds. In a perfect situation, the Vikings would like to merge the two options, building for the future while giving them a solid floor in 2024. The competitive rebuild continues to be fixated on “the tournament.” But it’s a three- or four-year window, given that they’ve hit the quarterback position.
Kirk Cousins’ pending free agency has dominated the headlines. However, the biggest excitement swirls around the crop of quarterbacks who have created a buyer’s market in this year’s draft. It’s led the Vikings to a realm of various intersecting possibilities. But recent quotes and moves suggest they have their eyes set on Cousins returning and Drake Maye finding his way to Minnesota.
Everything the Vikings have done this season has revolved around Cousins. A 36-year-old coming off a torn Achilles usually doesn’t have a strong market, but Cousins figures to buck that trend. His track record virtually guarantees 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns every season. You’re unlikely to hit rock bottom when he’s your quarterback.
It’s led to a veritable symphony of glowing sentiments about Cousins. Adofo-Mensah joined the chorus during his press conference on Tuesday morning.“What we do know is we have a really great quarterback, a great leader, and somebody that we think we can win the ultimate prize with,” Adofo-Mensah said, “so that’s ultimately what I can focus on.”
Kevin O’Connell sang a similar, familiar tune, stating his desire to have Cousins return during his press conference.
“Kirk Cousins knows how I feel about him. I’ve held no secrets there,” O’Connell said. “He knows how the Minnesota Vikings feel about him. I believe Kirk wants to be a Viking, and we’re going to try to make that the outcome.”
O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah’s comments made it seem like the Vikings want him back, but they also mentioned that both sides have to meet in the middle on a contract agreement. That’s where things could get complicated. Rumors flew at the NFL Scouting Combine that Cousins could wind up anywhere from Atlanta to Washington and that the Falcons have made him their top priority.
The Vikings’ gamble is that their situation is too good to leave. The Vikings provide the familiarity that Cousins has rarely had in his career. Minnesota’s fanbase seems to have grown attached to him. They have a head coach and owner who ranked A+ in the latest NFL Players Association report card and got As in almost every other category.
In some ways, the Vikings hope Cousins will have an Anthony Barr moment. Barr’s departure appeared imminent when he agreed to sign with the New York Jets in 2018. But then he got cold feet in a hotel room, which led him back to Minnesota.
“This is where I wanted to be,” Barr told the Pioneer Press. “The bonds I’ve made with my friends, my teammates, and my coaches are unbreakable. It just felt right. This is where my heart was. This is where it’s always been. This is where it always be.”
Barr’s last-minute decision came with an increased offer from the Vikings, and that’s something Minnesota may not want to do with Cousins. If Cousins returns, the Vikings will have their quarterback for 2024. But that leaves an unknown for the future, which could lead them to be aggressive in the draft.
KSTP’s Darren Wolfson suggested that the Vikings discussed moving up to the third-overall pick in this year’s draft at the Senior Bowl. While Wolfson walked back that report a few days later, it retains some merit based on what we have heard in recent months.
Brett Kollman of The Film Room suggested the Vikings were willing to go all-in to acquire Anthony Richardson in last year’s draft. However, they couldn’t meet the asking price of the teams ahead of the Indianapolis Colts, who took Richardson with the fourth-overall pick. If the Vikings were willing to “give away the entire farm, the cat…like, all of it” to get Richardson, they will clearly go for the quarterback they want – which turns the attention to Maye.
Maye is projected as one of the top-three quarterbacks in this year’s draft, and the NFL Mock Draft Database currently has him going second to the Washington Commanders in their consensus mock. But some believe the Jayden Daniels hype train could have him overtake Maye for the No. 2 quarterback spot. A similar push by J.J. McCarthy could make Maye the annual candidate to be this year’s Bo Callahan or – more ideally – Aaron Rodgers.
Maye probably isn’t making it to pick No. 11. But he makes a lot of sense for the Vikings if they can find a trade partner.
The Vikings hired Josh McCown as their quarterbacks coach hours after Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell were done at the podium last Tuesday. A quarterback guru, Frank Reich hired McCown to develop Bryce Young, last year’s No. 1-overall pick. But the Carolina Panthers fired Reich, McCown, and the rest of the staff midway through the season.
McCown’s early returns are that he’s the type of coach you want to develop a young QB. A quote from Johnny Manziel, who played with McCown entering his second season with the Cleveland Browns in 2015, has made the rounds. It shows just how much confidence he can instill in a young signal caller.
“When [McCown] came in, the shift in that room went through the roof of positivity,” Manziel said on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast. “He comes up to me and goes, ‘You want to be a great quarterback?’ And I go, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘Tie a string to the end of my backpack, and you can follow me around wherever you want, and I’ll show you what it takes to really be a quarterback in the NFL.”
At the same time, O’Connell was beginning his coaching career as a quarterbacks coach with the Browns. While O’Connell only spent one season in Cleveland, a McCown reunion makes sense – especially if he wants to groom a quarterback to succeed Cousins.
People connected the Vikings to Michael Penix Jr. and McCarthy at the combine. But the dots connect McCown to Maye, whom McCown coached at Myers Park High School in Charlotte.
While some of this could be a coincidence, like O’Connell’s connections with Will Levis during last year’s draft. But they could also be significant clues when you consider what O’Connell labeled as his “non-negotiables” for a quarterback at the combine.
“Any NFL quarterback who is going to sustain a long career in this league has to be accurate,” O’Connell said. “They have to be able to process information. They have to have a certain baseline level of toughness to play the position because we ask them to do not only mentally hard things, but it’s a physically hard position with what happens each Sunday.”
O’Connell’s criteria seem to fit Maye. The UNC quarterback was one of three prospects in this year’s draft, along with Daniels and Penix, to rank in the top 10 of big-time throw percentage and turnover-worthy play percentage last season. May’s adjusted completion percentage of 75.1% was also just above the 71.7% average in college football last year.
Maye also has issues under pressure and needs to reduce his average time to throw. But there are enough tools that the Vikings can refine, especially if he spends a year behind Cousins.
It’s a strategy that worked for the Green Bay Packers, who kept Rodgers around while developing Jordan Love. Maye and Love have identical 6’4”, 224 lbs. frames and have big arms to make all of the throws in a McVay-inspired offense.
Maye could be further along in his development based on what we’ve seen during his collegiate career, but that leaves us with the Cousins’ decision. If the Vikings are planning to go all in on Maye or any of the other top quarterbacks in the draft, would Cousins stick around for two years before they turn to the new starter in 2026? Or would he agree to a deal that would leave him open to being traded before 2025?
Both of these scenarios seem unlikely, but the door is open because the Vikings have cleared the path. Now it’s just a matter of the pieces coming together over the next several weeks.
