Don’t expect Vikings to use an early pick to draft a QB this year

With their recent decision to give Kirk Cousins an extension, the Minnesota Vikings seemed to make it pretty clear quarterback is not a priority heading into this year’s NFL Draft.

Two years into the experiment, the Minnesota Vikings have had a number of different experiences during Kirk Cousins’ tenure as the team’s starting quarterback.

Cousins’ first season under center with the Vikings didn’t go according to plan as the team missed the playoffs. But in 2019, the quarterback was able to put together an impressive year out on the field and lead Minnesota back to the postseason.

Recently, the Vikings decided to give Cousins a two-year extension which now keeps him under contract with the team until 2023. The deal also bumps up the quarterback’s average annual salary to $33 million.

So with this extension, it seems pretty clear that Minnesota is rolling with Cousins as their starting signal-caller for at least another two seasons and likely three. Still, some Vikings fans would like to see the team use one of their five picks in the first three rounds of this year’s NFL Draft on a young quarterback.

The chances of this actually happening don’t seem very likely though. The Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson was recently asked on Bleeding Purple if he thinks Minnesota could possibly use one of their first five draft selections on a new passer this year.

"“No, I’d be very surprised. They’ve hitched their wagon to Cousins. He’s their guy. I don’t think you give him an extension and then right away, you take a quarterback in the first round and then all of a sudden there’s controversy even if that’s not their intention.”"

Tomasson also added that the Vikings could possibly add a quarterback in the later portion of the draft to compete with Sean Mannion or Jake Browning for the 2020 backup job. The full interview can be heard below at the 26:20 mark.

This shouldn’t really come as a surprise to anyone. Minnesota giving Cousins a $66 million extension is pretty much all anyone needs to know in order to figure out how the team feels about their current starting quarterback.

As far as adding someone in the draft to compete for a backup job though, this is what people need to be paying attention to. The Vikings going into the 2020 season with Mannion as the No. 2 guy again is extremely risky, regardless of how healthy Cousins has been able to be during his NFL career.

At the very least, Minnesota could draft a quarterback in one of the last few rounds this year and hope to trade him for some valuable assets in the future. Keep in mind though, Minnesota hasn’t spent a draft pick on a new signal-caller since 2014.