The Latest Kirk Cousins Trade Destination
Josh Frey
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I don’t know about you, but watching the Philadelphia Eagles play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild card round on Sunday put me to sleep faster than a dose of NyQuil. Throughout that entire game, the only thing I could think about is how the Eagles could have been at least competitive in that game if they had even decent quarterback play. Sure, Jalen Hurts is fun to watch if you have no rooting interest, but can you imagine going into a game on a week-to-week basis putting your faith in him to win games? Because of that, the Eagles should be looking to improve at that position going into 2022. Yup, it’s time to open up the can of Kirk Cousins trade partners again.
First off, the Vikings won’t be conducting a Kirk Cousins trade unless there’s some legitimate draft capital involved. Philadelphia is one of the few teams that can accommodate that. They have a whopping three draft picks inside of the top-19 this year, and there will certainly be plenty of immediate impact players on the board.
The biggest issue with a Cousins trade, at least for myself, is finding someone able to play the QB position for cheap. I’m a proponent of just extending Cousins by a few years, taking off some of that immediate cap hit, and just seeing what kind of team you can build around him. This time though? I’m hesitating to say why I wouldn’t pull the trigger, mainly because they could get that type of QB in this trade.
That QB is none other than the Jockstrap King himself, Gardner Minshew. It’s been almost a year since I proposed that the Vikings bring in Minshew as a backup QB. This time, I’m going to double down and propose that they bring him in as a starter.
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In a Cousins trade, the Eagles would be opting to allow Hurts to continue development as a backup meaning Minshew, who they already clearly have a low value on, is all but expendable. In this trade, I’m proposing the Vikings force Philadelphia to throw him into the deal, giving Minnesota the QB and perhaps the 16th overall pick.
I laid out all the reasons for Minnesota to trade for Minshew last year, so I’ll let you go back to that article for more on that. All the same reasons apply now, with the caveat that when we saw him in 2021 over two starts, he went a total of 39/58 (67%) with 428 yards, 4 TDs, and an interception. Not too shabby.
This trade not only makes me excited with the Vikings QB situation, but it also makes things extremely interesting in the draft. I have a dilemma over which position the Vikings should address in the first round. My initial desire was Tyler Linderbaum to solidify that interior offensive line. However, that was based on the assumption Minnesota would be picking later in the round, in the 16-20 range.
Now though, they have a legitimate chance at landing a landscape-changing cornerback in Ahmad Gardner. It appears this is where many other fans would like Minnesota to go as well. By making this trade, the Vikings may not have to decide. They could have Gardner at No. 12, and then four picks later, they could snatch Linderbaum. Not a bad haul by any means.
Whoever the Vikings next GM is, it’s likely they want to make a mark on this franchise. That could include moving on from multiple veterans including Kirk Cousins. After the beatdown that Tampa Bay put on Philly this weekend, the Eagles could be a legitimate trade partner. The Eagles get a real starting QB to help compete in a wide-open NFC East, and the Vikings get off the Cousins’ contract, a bridge QB (with long-term in the right system), and draft compensation. Let’s call it in.