3 trades the Vikings should have made before this year’s deadline

Sam Darnold – QB (New York Jets)

Minnesota is currently set with Kirk Cousins as their starting quarterback for the rest of the 2020 season. But what about the future?

Cousins has seen his play trend in the wrong direction so far this year and it has many questioning whether or not he will remain the Vikings starting signal-caller past 2020.

Over in New York, Sam Darnold was supposed to be the savior of the franchise. Unfortunately for Darnold, the Jets hired Adam Gase to be their head coach in 2019 and the progression of the young quarterback has not gone as well as the team had hoped when they drafted him in 2018.

It feels like Darnold needs a fresh start somewhere else to get back on track to potentially becoming the franchise quarterback he was projected to be before he was drafted. Otherwise, he’s just going to continue on the path of becoming a draft bust.

Landing with Minnesota before this season’s trade deadline is something that could have potentially helped Darnold get things back on track. He wouldn’t have needed to start this year and he would have had more time to work on improving the mental aspects of his game.

Darnold would have been a much better backup option behind Cousins this season instead of Sean Mannion. Plus, acquiring the young quarterback might have given the Vikings more of an incentive to see if they could move Cousins to another team in 2021.

Instead of trading for Darnold though, Minnesota is rolling with Cousins and Mannion as their top two passers for the rest of the year. Please contain your excitement.