The Minnesota Vikings have to start thinking about their future at quarterback.
Their struggles this season encapsulated just how uncertain things are outside of Kirk Cousins, a pending free agent this offseason. Even with mutual interest between the team and Cousins to re-sign him for next season, he will be 36 years old and coming off a torn Achilles.
Minnesota will be picking 11th overall in the draft in April after finishing their season with a 30-20 loss to the Detroit Lions.
But the Vikings could be better set up to take on a reclamation project than banking on one of the quarterbacks in the 2024 draft class to fall to them. And New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones would certainly fit the description in a hypothetical trade proposal.
Vikings get:
– Mac Jones
Patriots get:
– 2024 sixth-round pick
Patriots answer with a @MacJones_10 to @Hunter_Henry84 TD! #ForeverNE
📺: #WASvsNE on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus t.co/d4RDZpcMkc
“Will the Patriots find a trade partner for Mac Jones this winter?” Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti wrote in a December 27 story predicting each team’s “quarterback resolutions for 2024.” “Will they pay him his fully guaranteed $2.78M salary as a buyout? Or will they keep him in the fold to compete as needed? Current QB1 Bailey Zappe sits on a non-guaranteed $985,000 minimum salary next season.”
Jones just wrapped the third year of his rookie deal, a four-year, $15.6 million contract.
Mac Jones Could Regain Rookie Form With Trade to Vikings
GettyMac Jones of the New England Patriots.
Jones, who will be just 26 years old by the 2024 season-opener, completed 67.6% of his passes for 3,800 yards and 22 touchdowns as a rookie in 2021. The Patriots went 10-7 that season. But they have not been able to coax more out of Jones since then, with his numbers falling each season and his interception rate climbing to a career-high 3.5% this season.
Former Patriots safety Devin McCourty insisted that head coach Bill Belichick has not done enough to develop Jones, either directly or with a proper supporting cast, during an appearance on “The Greg Hill Show” in December. A weak supporting cast would not be an issue with the Vikings, who have Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at receiver.
Add a healthy T.J. Hockenson and Jones would have a trio of strong options to target.
The Patriots will select No. 3 overall in the draft, potentially setting them up to take one of the top quarterbacks and create a new path.
Ginnitti predicted the Patriots would flip Jones to the San Francisco 49ers for a seventh-round pick. The Vikings have multiple picks in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds and could be able to outbid any other potential suitors for Jones on the trade market.
Vikings QB Room in Flux
GettyKirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings.
Ginnitti also predicted the Vikings would lock up Cousins with an extension for another $80 million fully guaranteed over the next two seasons
Nick Mullens is still under contract, and Ginnitti predicted he would return as the top backup. But the Vikings can get out of that with only $375,000 in dead cap space this offseason, per Spotrac.
There is also fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall, whom head coach Kevin O’Connell appears to still believe in.
None of them – or Joshua Dobbs if he is brought back – should close the door on adding Jones, the No. 15 overall pick from just three draft cycles ago. Especially if the cost is not prohibitive, just as Ginnitti expects.
Jones can learn the offense behind Cousins if the latter indeed returns. And, if not, perhaps O’Connell can get Jones back to — and build off of — his encouraging rookie season.
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Proposed Vikings Trade Lands Former 1st-Round Pick, Kirk Cousins’ Successor