Kyler Murray to the Vikings in the NFL Draft? The odds of that happening is probably a billion to one but former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum would seek out a deal to get Murray in purple and gold if he were in Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s shoes.
Tannenbaum, playing armchair GM for every team with a first-round pick, would draft quarterback Caleb Williams to the Bears, Drake Maye to the Commanders, Jayden Daniels to the Patriots and then shock the world with J.J. McCarthy at No. 4 to the Cardinals.
Then, with the No. 11 pick, he has the Cardinals acquiring it from Minnesota in a blockbuster trade that would send Murray and a third-round pick to the Vikings.
As he explains, his picks are “not necessarily what I’m expecting to happen but rather how I’d personally approach each Day 1 selection.”
“So here’s my proposition to clear some cap space for the Cards, officially start the McCarthy era in Arizona and fix the Vikings’ QB issue. In my mind, the No. 11 pick for Murray straight up is too rich, and No. 23 — Minnesota’s other first-rounder — on its own is not enough. So I’m attaching that third-rounder to the No. 11 pick to level this out,” Tannenbaum reasons.
He adds that Murray is “cheaper and younger than Kirk Cousins would have been to re-sign and gives them a chance to compete this season rather than rebuild.”
Tannebaum worked in the Miami Dolphins front office from 2015-18 and was later the general manager of the New York Jets, so he certainly knows what he’s talking about.
Does this make sense?
Murray is 27 and is owed $131 million over the next five seasons, according to Over The Cap. He’s healthy after missing more than half of last season with a torn ACL and when healthy he’s of the most electrifying dual-threat quarterbacks. That said…
“I don’t think it’s realistic considering the Cardinals are very, very likely to build around Kyler Murray,” says Purple Insider’s Matthew Coller. “It would be a pretty crazy twist and give the Vikings their franchise QB to pair with a great group of weapons. It would be hard to be against it considering the uncertainty of the draft. Even if it’s probably not going to happen, give Mike his props for creativity on this one.”
Murray has a $49 million cap hit in 2024 so the Vikings would need to do some salary cap gymnastics to make it work immediately, but Minnesota has north of $100 million in projected cap space in 2025 so the long-term idea of adding a big contract isn’t unrealistic.
Of course, if the Vikings want to work in a world where they have a rookie contract they could certainly do that by avoiding Murray and drafting a quarterback on April 25.
