{"id":78454,"date":"2024-01-08T04:07:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T04:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=78454"},"modified":"2024-01-08T04:07:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T04:07:18","slug":"proposed-vikings-trade-lands-former-1st-round-pick-kirk-cousins-successor-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/proposed-vikings-trade-lands-former-1st-round-pick-kirk-cousins-successor-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed Vikings Trade Lands Former 1st-Round Pick, Kirk Cousins\u2019 Successor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0have to start thinking about their future at quarterback.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1756719885-e1704685772819.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Their struggles this season have encapsulated just how uncertain things are outside of\u00a0Kirk Cousins, a pending free agent this offseason. Even with\u00a0mutual interest\u00a0between the team and Cousins in his return next season, he will be 36 years old and coming off a torn Achilles.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota will be\u00a0picking 11th overall\u00a0in the draft in April after finishing their season with a 30-20 loss to the\u00a0Detroit Lions.<\/p>\n<p>But the Vikings could be better set up to take on a reclamation project than banking on one of the quarterbacks in this class to fall to them. And\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0quarterback\u00a0Mac Jones\u00a0would certainly fit the description.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vikings get:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2013 Mac Jones<\/p>\n<p><strong>Patriots get:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2013 2024 sixth-round pick<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Patriots answer with a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MacJones_10?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@MacJones_10<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Hunter_Henry84?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@Hunter_Henry84<\/a> TD! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ForeverNE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#ForeverNE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WASvsNE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#WASvsNE<\/a> on FOX<br \/>\ud83d\udcf1: Stream on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NFLPlus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#NFLPlus<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/d4RDZpcMkc\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/d4RDZpcMkc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/haXWNzctad\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/haXWNzctad<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL (@NFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/1721238914667782390?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">November 5, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWill the Patriots find a trade partner for Mac Jones this winter,\u201d\u00a0wrote Micahel Ginnitti of Spotrac\u00a0on December 27. \u201cWill they pay him his\u00a0fully guaranteed $2.78M salary\u00a0as 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jones just wrapped the third year of a\u00a0four-year, $15.6 million contract.<\/p>\n<h2>Mac Jones Could Regain Rookie Form With Trade to Vikings<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_4659672\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4659672 visible\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1870001631-e1704685290110.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Mac Jones, New England Patriots\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4659672\" data-lazy-load=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1870001631-e1704685290110.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" \/><\/div>\n<p>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. The Patriots went 10-7 that season. But they have not been able to coax more out of Jones since.<\/p>\n<p>His numbers have fallen each season while his interception rate has climbed to a career-high 3.5% this season.<\/p>\n<p>Former Patriots safety\u00a0Devin McCourty\u00a0insisted Head Coach\u00a0Bill Belichick\u00a0has not done enough to develop Jones, either directly or with a proper supporting cast, during an appearance on \u201cThe Greg Hill Show\u2019\u201d in December. That would not be an issue with the Vikings who have\u00a0Justin Jefferson\u00a0and\u00a0Jordan Addison\u00a0at receiver.<\/p>\n<p>Add in a healthy\u00a0T.J. Hockenson\u00a0and that\u2019s a trio of strong options in the passing game.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots will select No. 3 overall in the draft, potentially setting them up to take one of the top quarterbacks, and potentially create a path.<\/p>\n<p>Ginnitti predicts the Patriots flip Jones to the\u00a0San Francisco 49ers\u00a0for a seventh-round pick. The\u00a0Vikings have multiple picks\u00a0in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. They should be able to outbid any other potential suitors for Jones on the trade market.<\/p>\n<h2>Vikings QB Room in Flux<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_4659669\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-4659669 visible\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1698969208-e1704685178267.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Kirk Cousins, Nick Mullens, Jaren Hall, Minnesota Vikings\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4659669\" data-lazy-load=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1698969208-e1704685178267.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Ginnitti also projects the Vikings to lock up Cousins with an extension for another\u00a0$80 million fully guaranteed\u00a0over the next two seasons<\/p>\n<p>Nick Mullens\u00a0is still under contract, and Ginnitti predicts a 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.<\/p>\n<p>There is also fifth-round rookie\u00a0Jaren Hall, who Head Coach\u00a0Kevin O\u2019Connell\u00a0still believes in.<\/p>\n<p>None of them \u2013 or\u00a0Joshua Dobbs\u00a0if he is brought back \u2013 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.<\/p>\n<p>Jones can learn the offense behind Cousins if the latter indeed returns. And, if not, perhaps O\u2019Connell can get Jones back to \u2014 and build off of \u2014 his encouraging rookie season.<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_7_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-7 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"CJfc-vHzzIMDFf9RwgUdJM8Bfw\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0have to start thinking about their future at quarterback. Their struggles this season have encapsulated just how uncertain things are outside of\u00a0Kirk Cousins, a pending free&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}