Come the 2023 season’s end, Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will sit down once again with NFL agent Mike McCartney about the future at quarterback.
McCartney is coveted for negotiating several of Kirk Cousins‘ contracts, but the conversation could shift to another quarterback — Josh Dobbs. McCartney happens to represent both quarterbacks, also impending free agents, who present two different paths the Vikings could take at quarterback.
Former Vikings lineman and NFL agent Jeremiah Sirles speculated on the upcoming negotiations at quarterback and made a pitch for the Vikings to keep Dobbs, who offers Minnesota more flexibility for the future.
“If he leads this team to a playoff — especially, if he leads this team to a playoff win — you can’t let him walk out the building and say ‘We’ll find better in the draft,’ ” Sirles said of Dobbs on a November 14 episode of the “Purple Insider” podcast. “Because you got to think if we lead to a playoff we’re not picking in the top 15 anymore. There’s quarterbacks you can find down there, but if you truly think Dobbs can give yourselves a chance to win, yes you’re gonna have to pay him some money because he’s a free agent, but you’re not going to have to pay him Kirk Cousins money — and that’s the difference.”
Josh Dobbs Would Be Fitting of Vikings’ New Regime
GettyVikings quarterback Josh Dobbs
While Adofo-Mensah inherited Cousins from the Rick Spielman regime, he has handled his dealings with the veteran quarterback differently.
The Vikings and Cousins’ camp walked away from the negotiating table this summer without an agreed-upon extension. Cousins wants long-term security, while Adofo-Mensah has maintained that flexibility is more important for the organization at this moment.
Enter Dobbs.
Dobbs has been a journeyman quarterback who is enjoying a 2-0 record as a starter with the Vikings and could earn himself a starting quarterback contract after averaging just over $1 million a season in his seven-year career.
Dobbs’ deal would still pale in comparison to Cousins’ $31 million average annual earnings with the Vikings, which would provide more financial flexibility to build a team around him while the Vikings develop a first-round quarterback.
“Kirk Cousins is established in this league long enough. [Dobbs] is going to be more along the lines of a Case Keenum type of deal, when he went to the Broncos,” Sirles said, referring to Keenum’s two-year, $36 million deal he signed after leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship in 2018.
“Still a big chunk of change, it’s not a rookie deal. But if you can say ‘I have a quarterback that I have a lot of faith. That I can build around. That can operate this offense with Justin Jefferson can operate this offense with T.J. Hockenson, let’s get him a weapon or let’s get him another alignment let’s get something else for him in here, let’s just take one in the hand instead of two in the bush and really believe that we can go forward with him.’ ”
Vikings Can Give Rookie QB the Patrick Mahomes Treatment
GettyHead coach Kevin O’Connell (left) of the Minnesota Vikings talks with quarterback Joshua Dobbs (right) before an NFL game against the Atlanta Falcons in November 2023.
Oftentimes, first-round quarterbacks are put into positions where they are first-year starters for bad teams.
That’s not the case for Minnesota.
The Vikings have a bright offensive-minded head coach, the best receiver in football and an improving offensive line to surround a developing quarterback.
These elements were also in place for the Kansas City Chiefs when they took Patrick Mahomes 10th overall in the 2017 draft. The Chiefs had veteran Alex Smith on a $17 million-a-year contract and gave themselves the chance to be successful with Smith while also developing Mahomes to be their eventual franchise quarterback.
Sirles sees Dobbs as a willing candidate to take on the mentor role and contribute to any opportunity he’s given, even if that means ceding the starting spot to a rookie in time.
“Based off what I’ve heard and know about the guy he would take it as let me help you let me coach you because you never know where you might end up in this league and let’s have you two work really well together and if you get injured then you have a guy that can come in but if not you’re still our guy.
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Former Viking Sounds off on Future at QB: ‘You Can’t Let Him Walk’