Should the Minnesota Vikings attempt to acquire Washington Football Team quarterback Dwayne Haskins?
The Minnesota Vikings have been linked to quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft thanks to a slow start this season. With a win in Week 4 though, Minnesota looks to be competent enough to not land a top-10 pick in next year’s draft, making a quarterback even less likely.
However, with the Washington Football Team seemingly giving up on former first-round pick Dwayne Haskins, the Vikings might still be able to land a young arm for cheap in 2021.
Much like we saw with Josh Rosen and the Arizona Cardinals, Haskins’ value is diminishing with every minute spent on the bench. But why would Minnesota want Haskins?
How much would it take for the Minnesota Vikings to acquire Dwayne Haskins?
To be fair, his struggles have not been entirely his fault. Washington had an eventful offseason, to say the least. Throw in a new coaching staff, a poor offensive line, and a lack of perimeter weapons, nothing was in Haskins’ favor.
So far this season, Haskins has thrown for 939 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions while completing roughly 61 percent of his throws. Unfortunately, he has also been sacked 13 times and he has fumbled the ball four times, losing two of them.
The timing of this benching is certainly odd, as Haskins is coming off his best performance of the season against a stout Baltimore Ravens team. During Washington’s loss to the Ravens, he threw for 314 yards with zero turnovers.
Coincidentally, Trey Lance, a first-round quarterback prospect, declared for the NFL Draft the day before Haskins was sent to the bench.
The Vikings would be smart to kick the tires on a potential trade for the Washington quarterback at some point before the 2021 season begins. Haskins is still just 23-years-old and he has shown plenty of flashes as an NFL quarterback.
He finished his rookie season with a passer rating of 131.3 during his final two games while racking up 394 yards and four touchdowns.
If Washington is set on departing with Haskins, his trade value ought to be pretty low. Given Minnesota’s backup situation at quarterback, trading a mid-round pick for a young guy who can still develop into something would be well worth it.
Now, I’m not saying Haskins would be the immediate starter for the Vikings, nor should he be. He still needs to show enough consistency as a passer and take care of the ball over before he would take the keys to the team’s offense.
Perhaps he sits for a year behind Kirk Cousins before Minnesota makes a decision based on what they see in practice.
Haskins is still a very talented quarterback with enough raw talent to turn some heads. He is easily better than Sean Mannion, so he would immediately slide into the backup role for the Vikings should he join the roster in 2021.