According to a report on Monday, the Minnesota Vikings will not be placing the franchise tag on the quarterback this year.
Whoever the Minnesota Vikings decide to be their starting quarterback for the 2018 season, they will not be doing it with the franchise tag.
On Monday, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Vikings are not going to use the franchise tag on free-agent quarterback Case Keenum this offseason. Of Minnesota’s impending free-agents, Keenum was the only legitimate candidate to be tagged by the team this year.
A week ago, there was a rumor that the Vikings were not going to use their franchise tag on any player this offseason and that appears to have been validated by Rapoport’s recent report.
With the news, it looks like Minnesota is at least going to let Keenum test the waters in free agency this year.
Minnesota Vikings
The two sides could still potentially work out a new deal, but the Vikings clearly don’t believe the quarterback is worth the kind of money he would have received if given the franchise tag.
Monday’s report could also provide some truth to the rumor of Minnesota actually viewing Keenum as nothing more than a backup that found some magic in 2017.
Still, in a league that is always full of quarterback-needy teams, Keenum should get a lot of interest from around the NFL this year.
If another team offers him more guaranteed money than the Vikings, he would be dumb to come back to Minnesota. This could be Keenum’s only offseason to take advantage of teams around the league bidding for his services and he needs to get as much cash as he can in case his production is never again like what it was in 2017.
Next: Where will Case Keenum end up in 2018?
The quarterback’s chance to return to Minnesota for next season has not entirely vanished just yet. But Monday’s news does make it seem like Keenum has a better shot at getting paid elsewhere this year.