Vikings Must Stockpile Draft Picks, Not Trade Them, in Crucial QB Decision

Because the Vikings aren't planning to hire a new general manager until after the NFL Draft, it's fair to assume that head coach Kevin O'Connell has complete control of how they handle the quarterback situation — and unless they're planning on trading a haul for a superstar, there is one path that makes more sense than others.

What we already know is that Minnesota plans to add a veteran quarterback to either take over as the starter or compete with 23-year-old J.J. McCarthy, and that person will undoubtedly be known by the time the draft comes around in late April.

It's a high-stakes decision, and there is no room for error. This is where their approach gets intriguing.

Matthew Coller, an independent Vikings beat reporter who operates Purple Insider, spoke with former Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley, who selected quarterback E.J. Manuel in the first round of the 2013 draft. Manuel was limited to 10 starts as a rookie due to a knee injury, and was benched five games into his second season.

Sound familiar? McCarthy, who missed his rookie season with an injury, made his first 10 starts in 2025, and his numbers are eerily similar to Manuel's from 2013.

QB	CMP%	Yards	TD	INT	Rush Yards	Rush TD
Manuel	58.8	1,972	11	9	186	2
McCarthy	57.6	1,632	11	12	181	4

Whaley was the GM in Buffalo from 2010 to 2017. He was part of the front office that hired head coach Sean McDermott in 2017, only to be fired by the Bills after the 2017 draft. Buffalo then leaned on McDermott to help find the next GM, who turned out to be Brandon Beane.

Beane and McDermott were credited for selecting Josh Allen in the first round of the 2018 draft, and they did it by acquiring valuable picks that gave them ammo to move up. As Coller noted, Whaley started the process of adding draft capital before he was fired, setting the stage for the new regime to keep stockpiling ahead of the 2018 draft, which he had identified as the next great QB class.

Whaley dealt the No. 10 pick in 2017 to the Chiefs, who took Patrick Mahomes. In exchange, Buffalo received KC's first-round picks in 2017 and 2018, plus a 2017 third-rounder.

Beane then traded wide receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby for 2018 second-round picks from the Rams and Eagles, respectively. That gave the Bills two picks in each of the first three rounds of the 2018 draft, and they wound up moving up five spots, from No. 12 to No. 7, to take Allen.

To move up, they had to give Tampa Bay their first-round pick and both second-round picks. Had they not set the table for the 2018 draft, Allen might've developed into a superstar somewhere else.

Vikings should follow a similar path this offseason

Mimicking that approach might be the best strategy for the Vikings, who are in the awkward position of trying to remain competitive with superstar Justin Jefferson and a rockstar defense despite now-fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's well-documented failures in the 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 drafts.

“It might be that this year’s draft isn’t high on quarterbacks and the free agent pool stinks, so let’s do something that keeps us in a position with draft capital and cap space to strike in subsequent years,” Whaley told Coller of the approach Minnesota's next GM might consider.

“If you’re really smart, you can say, ‘I think that the 2028 draft is going to have multiple options at the quarterback position and I think we should look to the next two years to try to get as much draft capital as possible so we have the ammunition to maneuver so no matter where we end up in the first round to go up and get the guy we like.’ You have to make sure that it’s a draft where there are multiple options rather than just one because then you’d have to overspend.”

Without hiring a GM before the 2026 draft, it'll be on O'Connell and Rob Brzezinski, the executive vice president of football operations who is acting as the interim general manager, to properly set the table for whoever the Vikings hire as the next GM.

The next QB class expected to be quite good comes in 2027, when the likes of Dante Moore (Oregon), Arch Manning (Texas), Julian Sayin (Ohio State), Brendan Sorsby (Texas Tech), LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), and Sam Leavitt (LSU) will be eligible.

The Vikings have to be very careful about trading Day 2 draft capital for a quarterback this offseason. Unless they're trading a haul for a proven superstar (Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson), they should avoid trading Day 2 picks for a QB, even if they have a strong belief in 49ers backup quarterback Mac Jones.

Those picks could be necessary to move up in next year's draft, which means Minnesota aiming for a veteran quarterback like Kyler Murray, Geno Smith, or Derek Carr is the most economically viable path for both the short- and long-term health of the franchise.

Murray only makes sense if he's released by Arizona and he'll sign a one-year deal to prove himself ahead of next year's free agency. The same thing goes for Smith. Carr's rights belong to the Saints, but it probably wouldn't take much more than a Day 3 pick to get him, and he probably won't require a multi-year contract.

Aaron Rodgers would also make sense if he's willing to come to Minnesota for one season.

Any one of those four would give Minnesota a chance to compete in 2026-27 without surrendering the draft capital they may need to take a shot at another quarterback in the 2027 draft.

If Minnesota can acquire Day 1 or Day 2 picks in the 2027 draft by trading out of the first round this year, they should consider it to ensure they have maximum ammunition if they find themselves needing to land a new franchise quarterback in 2027. They could also add 2028 draft capital, perhaps Day 1 or 2 picks, by trading wide receiver Jordan Addison.

There are many routes the Vikings can take to finding the next franchise quarterback, but the most logical path is one that keeps them competitive in 2026 while also putting them in a position to strike in the 2027 draft.