The Minnesota Vikings had probably hoped that conversations surrounding their QB would slowly have gone away with Kyler Murray as their starter. Nonetheless, amid the concerns regarding the team’s offense, the talk of trading for a QB remains alive.
Murray has played his two full games as a starting QB after leaving Week 1 with a concussion. Against the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Murray produced a passer rating of 80.1 with 415 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, per StatMuse.
As a result, there are still questions regarding the QB play, and The Volume’s John Middlekauff doesn’t see any surprising trade for a signal-caller, so Minnesota will need to figure it out with Murray or backup QB Carson Wentz.
“I just don’t think you have many options,” Middlekauff said in an Oct. 6 video from “3 & OUT with John Middlekauff” about whether he sees the Vikings making a midseason trade for a QB.
“Who are you trading for? Would the Dolphins trade Malik Willis for a second-round pick? Could you offer three first-rounders for Herbert? If the team is just imploding and maybe they go winless and draft a quarterback, you would do that if you were Minnesota. I just don’t really see your options.”
Vikings Will Need to Ride With What They Have at QB
Meanwhile, Middlekauff shared the outlook on the Vikings’ offense that will be played with either Murray or Wentz. Middlekauff also notes that these next few weeks will see whether Minnesota can continue to play great defense while they get mediocre to average offensive output.
“I do think we’re going to learn: Is this sustainable?” Middlekauff added. “Can [Brian] Flores just carry the franchise while they go 3-0, while they punt, punt, punt, punt, punt? I think you just try to play like this, and if you were to make the playoffs, if you were to win the division doing what you’re doing, it would be the most incredible coaching job we’ll ever see.
“But it’d be like, ‘Well, it’s all Flores. Kevin [O’Connell], what are you doing here?’ I think it also speaks to how bad they think J.J. McCarthy sucks. They named Kyler the starting quarterback like a week into August. They have to think J.J. McCarthy is such a scrub.”
Minnesota Gets Realistic Take on 49ers QB Mac Jones
Although Middlekauff doesn’t see any QB options for the Vikings to trade for midseason, on the Oct. 4 edition of “Purple Daily,” co-host Judd Zulgad shared three realistic trade options for the Vikings at the deadline, with the most challenging one being San Francisco 49ers QB Mac Jones.
“My top three realistically right now: Kirk Cousins is good. Geno Smith is good, and Mac Jones,” Zulgad said. “But I think San Francisco would flat-out try to get too much. I can’t give you a ton of 2027 draft capital for a guy who’s appeared in eight games a year ago and has not played this year. This is the problem.
“What would you give up? And [Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley] might just say, ‘You know what, I was not involved in your scrapes previously, and I’m not going to screw this up by making a trade for now.’ But it just hurts because you watch this defense. I do feel some empathy for Brian Flores here.”
Vikings Get Blunt Reality on QB Trade Options Amid Offensive Issues