Thursday, April 27 will be an interesting day for the Minnesota Vikings. That’s Day 1 o the the NFL Draft, and Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer thinks the Vikings are a “quiet contender” take a quarterback.
Breer’s report comes via a Q&A in one of his recent columns, where he was asked what the Vikings will do with Kirk Cousins’s contract situation. Cousins is under contract next season but it seems possible, if not likely, that Minnesota will give Cousins a short-term extension. That’s what Breer thinks will happen.
“I think Kirk Cousins will be the Vikings’ quarterback in 2023, and I think, certainly, they’d consider doing another one-year extension with him this offseason,” Breer wrote. “But I also believe that Cousins’s age (he’ll be 35 in Week 1) and contract situation make the Vikings a quiet contender to take a quarterback in April.”
Most mock drafts have the top four quarterbacks – Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis and Antony Richardson – all going in the first half of the first round, so the odds of one of them falling to the Vikings might be far fetched.
“Minnesota’s been here before, and recently. Had Justin Fields slipped to where the team was initially picking in 2021 (No. 14), before dealing down and taking Christian Darrisaw with the 23rd pick, the now-Bears quarterback would’ve been a serious consideration,” says Breer.
“So if, say, Florida’s Anthony Richardson were to fall into their laps at 24, it’s easy for me to see the Vikings seeing a raw prospect who could develop for a year behind Cousins and wind up being a monster for them a few years down the line (physically, he’s off the charts).”
There are still more than two months before the draft and a lot can change. Remember, last year everyone had Malik Willis and other QB prospects locked in as high picks and only one quarterback wound up being drafted in the first round (Kenny Pickett).
Related: 5 quarterbacks the Vikings could realistically take in the NFL Draft
