All signs lead to the Minnesota Vikings adding a franchise quarterback to their roster shortly, but how they do so remains to be seen.
With the Vikings sitting at 6-6 and an erratic Josh Dobbs poised to start his fourth game in Minnesota on Sunday, December 10, it’s tough to forecast where they’ll fall in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft and which quarterback prospect they’ll be able to land there.
However, regardless of whether Minnesota’s first-round pick is at No. 10, No. 30, or anywhere in between, the Vikings may be able to secure one signal-caller. Justin Fields of the Chicago Bears is that player.
Bears are heavy favorites to secure the No. 1 pick from Panthers After Recent NFL Results
Surprisingly, it has been the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dismal five-day run that has produced the circumstances in which Fields is now highly likely to be available for trade come March.
Pittsburgh fell to the 2-10 New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football after falling to the 2-10 Arizona Cardinals the previous Sunday.
The Carolina Panthers were already the only NFL team with only one victory before Week 14, and there is now a two-game difference between the Panthers and the league’s other two poorest teams. Carolina’s remaining schedule is not difficult, but the odds of the team winning two of its next five games are, to say the least, long.
Chicago currently owns the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2020 after trading the top pick in 2023 for it, along with a slew of other assets — a trade that looks wonderful now, even though the Bears passed up the opportunity to choose MVP candidate CJ Stroud. If the team passes on a second consecutive franchise quarterback in 2024, the transaction will look less brilliant, as will Chicago general manager Ryan Poles.
According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears are increasingly likely to reset the quarterback clock by picking one next spring.
“Keeping Poles’ overarching goal in mind, and understanding that the Bears probably have not checked all of the boxes they would like to at this point with Justin Fields, it seems like most signs point in one direction: selecting a quarterback at or near the top of a draft that should offer some excellent choices,” Biggs said in a statement.
Justin Fields provides the Vikings with a well-known commodity at a fixed price for two seasons.
Fields is in the final year of his $19 million rookie deal, and if the Vikings acquire him, they will also obtain a fifth-year team option that will keep Fields salary-controlled until 2025. Minnesota will have two years to develop Fields under head coach Kevin O’Connell’s system rather than starting from scratch with a rookie.
The advantage of a semi-experienced quarterback may be more beneficial to the Vikings than to other teams, given the organization recently extended tight end T.J. Hockenson to a historic deal for his position and is expected to do the same for wide out Justin Jefferson in the summer. A rookie like LSU’s Jayden Daniels or Michigan’s JJ McCarthy will start their careers far behind Fields 2024, even despite playing several seasons at the collegiate level.
Furthermore, if the Vikings reach their playoff goal, the pick for next year will be so low that Daniels and McCarthy may already be off the board. The Bears are expected to go with Caleb Williams of USC or Drake Maye of North Carolina, with another team picking up the slack shortly after.
Dobbs has been a charming character, but he is not a long-term solution. Kirk Cousins will be 36 and coming off Achilles surgery, so he is unlikely to be more than a one-year solution. The Vikings are in a difficult situation since there is essentially no regular-season footage on which to judge fifth-round rookie Jaren Hall.
The Vikings must make a decision on their franchise quarterback soon.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, the team’s general manager, has already postponed the search for a new quarterback for two years. The Vikings must take a swing at some point. The Bears shouldn’t be too concerned about the positioning of the selection they receive in exchange for Fields if they trade him, as long as it’s first-round value.
Fields, a 1,100-yard rusher from the quarterback position in 2022, can provide Minnesota with a dynamic skill set at a reasonable price, and the Vikings will have a better grasp of the guy they are acquiring than if they drafted a prospect in the mid- or late-first round.
As a result, if O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah like what they’ve seen from Fields during the previous two seasons playing against him in the NFC North Division, trading for the quarterback appears to be a viable option.
