Vikings QB situation: 'All options right now are on the table'
Two weeks from now everyone will know if the Vikings used the 23rd pick in the draft to take a player or if they traded up or down or completely out of the first round. More importantly, everyone could know a little bit more about Minnesota's plans at quarterback.
In an interview this week on KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero said "all options right now are on the table," including going back to the bargaining table with Kirk Cousins.
"The Vikings kind of pushed off a decision on Kirk Cousins for a couple years now," said Pelissero. "Now he's in a situation where once again he's entering a contract year, and it never made sense for Kirk from his standpoint to do another one-year extension. Either let him play it out and he gets to market next year and gets to find out what he's worth, or do a long-term extension.
"They had discussions. They had negotiations. They just didn't get to a place where this was going to be something that made sense for both sides. There's no reason they can't revisit those conversations depending how the draft goes, depending how their plans evolve here. But to the extent that right now they have a quarterback who I believe is 35 years old entering a contract year, it would not surprise me at all if quarterback is a consideration at 23."
The question becomes who is still on the board when the Vikings pick 23. If they don't trade up, the mocks would suggest that the big four – Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis – are all selected before 23. If they trade back, will a guy like Hendon Hooker still be available?
"Does it make sense to get a Hendon Hooker?" pondered Pelissero. "Maybe trade back and get a Hendon Hooker whose going to need what largely amounts to a redshirt year coming off the torn ACL."
He continued: "Do you get somewhere in the second, third, fourth rounds and at least get somebody into the development phase, whether that's Fresno State's Jake Haener or Aidan O'Connell from Purdue, one of those different guys?
"I think all options right now are on the table, and that includes Kirk Cousins remaining the quarterback for the long haul. Just at this point they haven't come to an agreement on what exactly that's going to be and at this point I don't anticipate that's something that's going to happen before the draft."
Meanwhile, Darren Wolfson of KSTP-TV said Thurday on Skor North's Mackey & Judd that, based on his intel, the Vikings have done as much work this year on quarterbacks in the pre-draft as any year in recent memory, at least going to back to 2014 when the former Vikings regime drafted Teddy Bridgewater.
"I sense that all the work they're doing on all these draft-eligible quarterbacks now, it seems like they're doing more work now than many other years," said Wolfson.
"Trust me, they have the book on Hendon Hooker," he added. "That's just one example."
