How 2024 NFL Free-Company Strikes Affect J.J. McCarthy’s NFL Draft Landing Spots
Unique Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam DarnoldThearon W. Henderson/Getty Photography
The Minnesota Vikings didn’t desire Kirk Cousins to leave. They didn’t desire to pay him what the market demanded, both.
Per The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Alec Lewis, the Vikings “made Kirk Cousins a proposal for extra than one 365 days that included guaranteed money in 365 days two. In the end, the Falcons’ offer exceeded how a long way Minnesota became once keen to switch.”
So, they played their opening gambit for what could per chance presumably very successfully become their next starting quarterback.
Firstly, the Vikings said that they want to preserve up flexibility, which they did with the signing of quarterback Sam Darnold to a one-365 days, $10 million contract. Darnold could per chance presumably birth, encourage as a backup or play as a bridge option till anyone else is ready.
However the belief looks evident now: The Vikings belief to alternate up for a quarterback.
Minnesota traded this 365 days’s 42nd and 188th total picks, plus a 2025 2nd-round resolution, to the Houston Texans for this 365 days’s 23rd and 232nd picks on Friday, per NFL Community’s Ian Rapoport. The extra first-rounder is a must beget, since the Vikings now get the 11th and 23rd picks. They would alternate up to get into the cease 10 and presumably have interaction out McCarthy or whichever quarterback stays readily available.
Whomever they have interaction out will more than doubtless be well-known to the franchise’s lengthy-time period stability.
While the Vikings won handiest one playoff sport at some level of Cousins’ six seasons in crimson and yellow, he did provide credibility. Minnesota is now lacking a key element that will more than doubtless be a must beget at some level of the ongoing contract negotiations with neatly-known person vast receiver Jordan Jefferson, who is about to enter the final season of his rookie deal.
A exact away solution thru the draft is in the franchise’s easiest interests, so the rookie quarterback can develop with the 24-365 days-primitive Jefferson over time.
The Vikings beget been already sitting in entrance of the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders in the most recent draft say. Their alternate with the Texans on Friday makes them basically the best-positioned amongst the quarterback-starved groups to advance away with McCarthy.
