A chance to fleece the Carolina Panthers for the sixth overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft in exchange for quarterback Kirk Cousins is a pipe dream for Minnesota Vikings fans.
And, unfortunately, it’s likely to remain as such when it’s all said and done.
Call me the bearer of bad news, the party pooper, or the Grinch Who Stole SKOLmas. But the Panthers aren’t giving away their premium top-10 draft pick for Cousins.
It’s not happening.
Matt Rhule would probably love to make a move like that one at this point because it would give him a bit more job security. But what about Panthers general manager Scott Fitterer? He needs his job, too.
The Panthers brought Rhule in to help turn around a team that failed to make the playoffs and won only five games in 2019. Well, in his first two seasons as Panthers head coach, the team has still won only five games and failed to make the playoffs.
Cousins being on the roster would instantly make them better because he’s obviously a more talented quarterback than Sam Darnold. He isn’t throwing the ball to the other team every time he hears footsteps in the pocket.
But then again, the Panthers could be passing up on a legitimate game-changer that could potentially help the team for the next decade for a quarterback who turns 34 years old in August. Unless Cousins plans on doing the Benjamin Button act like Tom Brady, he isn’t sticking around anywhere near that length of time.
He might actually feel like a middle-aged man playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league with no running game in Carolina, though.
Only the Miami Dolphins had a worse Pro Football Focus grade along an offensive front that left Darnold seeing ghosts like Haley Joel Osmont in The Sixth Sense.
If Fitterer had any SENSE, he isn’t doing this trade. But if the call does come through for Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to make the deal, then the Vikings should quickly accept it and bid Cousins and his bloated contract farewell.
Hasta la vista, arrivederci and goodbye.
