The Minnesota Vikings are flexible with their QB situation heading into the future. Both Kyler Murray and Carson Wentz are on one-year contracts. As a result, the Vikings can go in any direction with their long-term plans, whether that includes Murray, Wentz, both, or neither; all are options on the table.
Moreover, this flexibility means the Vikings might be open to making trades to fill that need for a QB if they choose. One potential trade speculation scenario involving Minnesota is being an option for Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
If the Chargers land a top pick but don’t have a shot at Ohio State Buckeye Jeremiah Smith, do they go QB? Could they hit the reset button and grab a promising signal-caller on a rookie contract? As a result, that’s where the speculation begins.
The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero was asked whether he could see the Vikings trading three first-round picks for Herbert.
“I’d have to think about that,” Pelissero said in an Oct. 16 video from The Ringer. “There’s a lot of things that would go in. First of all, Herbert has a no-trade clause. If I’m Minnesota, big picture, eventually you want to solidify the quarterback position. That’s why they took the swing on J.J. McCarthy a couple of years ago.
“But their most successful seasons have in part been driven by factors that had nothing to do with, ‘Oh, we got a young quarterback, and so we can spend on the other positions.’ With Kyler, he’s on the minimum deal. When Sam Darnold came, he was on a very cheap deal. That alone gave them the flexibility to go out and do it.”
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Moreover, Pelissero does admit that perhaps the Vikings’ formula with a cheap QB on a prove-it type of contract, such as the one that Murray is on, could be a formula that works well for Minnesota, given that their defense is arguably the best in the NFL.
“Like they’ve got the best defensive coordinator in Brian Flores. We can win in different ways. Maybe we don’t have to spend. It would be the exact opposite of how everyone in the league has been, where you try to draft one, you win for the three years of the rookie contract, and now, ‘Oh s–t, we have to pay him $60 million a year.’
“I guess the rest of the team around him isn’t going to be as good. I’m not saying that Kevin O’Connell doesn’t want to get off this carousel and stop having to do it, start from scratch, and go through the growing pains all the time, but it’s not a bad formula for the way they’re structured because it gives them those other opportunities.”
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Regarding Murray, Kyle Brandt of ESPN is one of the analysts who isn’t buying the Vikings as contenders due to their reliance on the former No. 1 pick as their starter.
“I don’t know if he has that gear in him and you’re going to get to the playoffs, and good for you, you went 12-5, whatever they’re going to go,” Brandt said on the Oct. 14 edition of “First Take.”
“San Francisco’s there. Dogs are there. Veterans are there. I don’t know if Kyler Murray is that guy in a January playoff game who’s like, ‘I got us. We’re down four with two minutes left. I got this.’ I just don’t think he’s that guy, and I can’t trust the team when he’s not.”
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