As trade rumors appear to be picking up again for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, what are the chances that he would land with the Minnesota Vikings?
During a Week 2 loss to the Arizona Cardinals last season, the Minnesota Vikings had the opportunity to witness how special of a player Kyler Murray is.
Murray led the Cardinals to a victory over the Vikings in 2021 by throwing for 400 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. In just his third season in the NFL, the 24-year-old quarterback picked apart Minnesota’s defense.
Despite having another performance that resulted in a Pro Bowl selection last season, Murray continues to find himself in the middle of trade rumors.
Don’t expect the Minnesota Vikings to trade for Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray
Murray and Arizona have been dealing with a bit of drama this offseason as the young quarterback would like to get an extension before the start of the 2022 campaign.
A report on Thursday from NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero revealed that the Cardinals haven’t even offered Murray an extension yet this year and that multiple teams around the league are monitoring the situation closely.
Could one of those teams potentially be the Vikings? Don’t bet on it.
In order to acquire Murray, Minnesota would have to figure out what to do with Kirk Cousins. After signing his one-year extension back in March, the Vikings trading Cousins before June 1st would result in a dead cap amount of more than $35 million and it would cost them almost $4 million in cap space.
A trade involving Cousins after June 1st becomes a little more believable with the dead cap amount dropping to around $16.4 million and the move would create $15 million in cap space for Minnesota.
But if a trade involving Murray were to happen this offseason, it would likely go down before or during the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft. So the chances seem low that the Cardinals quarterback would still be available after June 1st.
Plus, the latest extension Cousins signed included a no-trade clause, meaning he will have to sign off on any sort of deal that includes him.
While some might be intrigued by the idea of the Vikings trading for Murray, there are just too many obstacles at this point in time for Minnesota to overcome in order to get a deal done.
So if Murray does get traded this offseason, don’t expect it to be the purple and gold team that plays their home games in the Twin Cities.