Leave it to Pro Football Talk and Mike Florio to manufacture drama around Kirk Cousins. A Carolina Panthers video showing the team’s “war room” during the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft has been causing some offseason waves. Unfortunately, the period between the draft and training camp is the time for such things. Not much is happening so some talking heads manufacture drama for giggles, clicks, etc. The video shows the Panthers decision-makers fielding calls from teams looking to swap first round picks. One of those teams is the Minnesota Vikings. The Panthers had the 8th pick of the first round. The Vikings had the 14th pick. Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields was still available. The Vikings selected Texas A&M quarterback Kellon Mond in the third round so they were obviously interested in adding a quarterback early in the 2021 NFL Draft. It only follows that the Vikings were looking to trade up with the Panthers for Fields. He was their guy. They wanted him as the heir to Cousins’ job and to be their quarterback of the future. That’s what Florio, and others, are pushing. The story brings drama. The drama brings attention. The attention brings clicks. So, it is written.
Now, I’m not saying that the Vikings didn’t like Justin Fields or wouldn’t have selected him if he was available at #14 or in a trade up. I am saying that they weren’t so over the moon for him that they had to have him at any cost. The video shows that the Vikings called the Panthers with a trade offer. The Vikings tried to get to #8. Maybe it was for Fields. Maybe it was for Northwestern offensive tackle Rashawn Slater. The Vikings did eventually select an offensive tackle in the first round, Virginia Tech’s Christian Darrisaw. If the selection of Mond in the third is proof that the Vikings were interested in adding a quarterback early in the draft. The selection of Darrisaw in the first is surely proof that they were pretty damn interested in adding an offensive tackle early in the draft. Let’s let Florio have his day and say that the Vikings interest in trading with the Panthers was for the quarterback. He says that a league source says that it’s so. So I guess it must be so. That trade offer to swap first round picks is a fantastic place to start. The Vikings offered #90 and #143. A late third and a late fourth. The Vikings had an earlier third and three earlier fourths yet they offered their latest pick of each round. That doesn’t feel like a competitive offer. It isn’t even a modest offer. It certainly isn’t the sort of offer that a team makes for the quarterback of their dreams. A trade-up into the top-10 for a potential franchise quarterback usually calls for a future first-round pick. Even if the Vikings didn’t want to include a future pick they surely would’ve offered their earlier third and an earlier fourth. Or any combination of better picks. The offer that the Vikings made was probably the worst that they could’ve made without it being considered a joke. The Panthers probably did consider it a joke. That “no” came quickly and emphatically. Florio’s angle has this attempted trade as a full-blown threat to the job security of Kirk Cousins. This draft day trade offer was, at best, half-hearted and probably more exploratory than anything. An actual threat to Cousins’ job security would’ve been a successful trade offer. Or even a reasonable trade offer. #90 and #143 to jump from #14 to #8 is the sort of trade offer that might’ve been pulled from the movie Draft Day. It’s the sort of trade offer that could only work in a movie.
The Vikings succeeded in their attempt not to move up in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. When it came time for them to make their first-round pick, they traded back from #14 to #23. That trade with the New York Jets brought two third-round picks. It also cost the Vikings the late fourth that they tried to throw at the Panthers. The Vikings selected Darrisaw at #23. They selected Mond and Ohio State guard Wyatt Davis with the two third-round picks from the Jets.
It comes down to this. If the Panthers had taken that low-ball offer, the Vikings come out of the draft with:
Justin Fields.
Instead, they came out of the draft with:
Christian Darrisaw
Kellon Mond
Wyatt Davis
Patrick Jones II
That’s two players (Darrisaw and Davis) that should immediately improve the weakest position group on the team, the offensive line. The Vikings coaches were reportedly split on the quarterbacking potential of Fields and Mond. They drafted the one that better fit their current quarterback timeline. The clock starts sooner on a quarterback selected in the top-10 than one selected in the third round. The Vikings added a potential starting defensive end in Jones with the #90 pick that would’ve gone to Carolina. The late fourth-round pick that would’ve gone to Carolina went to New York to facilitate the first-round trade that actually did happen. Thankfully, it’s the one that did happen.
In my opinion, there’s nothing to see here. There’s no drama that needs to be manufactured. The reality of what the Vikings did on draft day is much more promising than the fantasy of what might’ve happened.
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