At the 2024 Reese’s Senior Bowl, ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler and college football reporter Pete Thamel had a chance to speak with executives, coaches and scouts to discuss their plans for the 2024 NFL Draft and upcoming off-season.
Among their findings lies an interesting tidbit about the Minnesota Vikings and their options at the quarterback position.
Fowler reported that the Vikings are a team that people around the league are “keeping an eye on” when discussing teams looking to trade up in the upcoming draft.
They did a lot of quarterback homework last offseason and could eventually target one high in the draft with free agent Kirk Cousins’ future in Minnesota uncertain. But moving from No. 11 into the top three would cost GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah a ton of draft capital.
With Cousins set to explore free agency, the future at the quarterback position for Minnesota is in jeopardy.
After a 13-4, NFC-North-winning debut season and possibly being an Achilles injury away from competing for the NFC North again this season, Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O’Connell have seen a roster that has outplayed their talent for two years straight.
But the reality is that if Minnesota was going to compete, this past season may have been the Vikings’ best chance to compete in the early stages of this regime. If the Vikings can reset the position with one of the top three options in this draft, they should take it.
Another aspect of this report worth Vikings fans’ attention is the perception of next year’s quarterbacks. Thamel reports that a veteran scout stated that next year’s quarterback class “won’t be anything close to this year’s.” Another said that “there’s no sure-thing sophomore quarterback. There’s always a riser or a one-year wonder, so it may not be that bad.”
The Vikings are not a bad enough roster to where they will be competing for one of the top names like Carson Beck, Quinn Ewers or Shedeur Sanders next season. The lack of depth in that class is yet another reason to strongly consider moving up to get one of the top guys in this class.
Moving the capital necessary to get one of the top guys is a risky proposition. One that will cost people their jobs if it does not pan out, so Minnesota has to continue doing its homework if they are considering a trade-up as a viable option.
