At this point it seems logical to conclude that the Minnesota Vikings will land the top free agent of the 2018 class in that of quarterback Kirk Cousins. League insiders believe Cousins will land with Minnesota. Meanwhile, at least one team interested in his services is worried that the Pro Bowler will be calling Minneapolis home.
If the Vikings were to somehow miss out on Cousins when free agency starts, would the team then turn back to incumbent starter Case Keenum or go another route?
According to MMQB’s Albert Breer, door No. 2 appears to be the case. In reviewing the NFL Scouting Combine, Breer clearly states that the Vikings prefer Cincinnati Bengals free agent A.J. McCarron to Keenum.
“The buzz is that the Broncos will be in heavy on Keenum if they strike out on Cousins. Same goes for the Vikings with McCarron,” Breer reports. “In both cases, the team kicked around the idea of trading for the quarterback in question over the last couple of years, so there’s history there. Which means each player may be compelled to slow-play his market, if Cousins takes his time.”
Denver’s interest in Keenum should it miss out on Cousins is not really fresh news. It is, however, interesting that the Vikings are seemingly prioritizing McCarron over Keenum should they fail to land Cousins.
Each quarterback is probably looking at $20-plus million annually. McCarron has started a grand total of three regular season games in four years. Keenum is coming off a 2017 campaign that saw him throw 22 touchdowns compared to seven interceptions en route to leading Minnesota to the NFC Championship Game. The body of work should lead us to believe Keenum is the better option.
Unfortunately, it appears that the Vikings’ brass has somehow soured on Keenum since a blowout loss to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship Game. Why is that? Well, it’s anyone’s guess. But if Minnesota were to fail in its pursuit of Cousins, it appears the team is more interested in signing McCarron than retaining Keenum.