One NFL analyst believes the San Francisco 49ers could be the best team in the league if they make a trade for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Please don't stop me if you've heard this before because you probably have. But the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings have reportedly had talks this offseason about a trade involving quarterback Kirk Cousins.
It was revealed last month by ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio and it picked up more steam recently when we found out that 49ers quarterback Trey Lance was also included in these trade discussions between San Francisco and Minnesota.
Well, there's at least one person who thinks San Francisco would become arguably the best team in the NFL if they were able to acquire Cousins from the Vikings.
San Francisco 49ers would be the "team to beat" in 2023 if they acquired Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins
With the reports of the Vikings and 49ers discussing trades involving Cousins and Lance circulating, CBS Sports' Adam Schein decided to give his opinion on a potential deal between the two teams.
"If I'm Kyle Shanahan, I would dangle Trey Lance and try and trade for Kirk Cousins. Say what you want about Kirk Cousins, but Kirk Cousins is quarterback 8 through 16 in the NFL. And remember, when Kirk Cousins was drafted by Washington, he was drafted by the Shanahans, Kyle and Mike, who absolutely love him.
So if I'm the Minnesota Vikings and the San Francisco 49ers, I'm working out a deal where Kirk Cousins goes to San Francisco, Trey Lance ends up going to Minnesota, and I think if San Francisco makes that kind of trade, we are talking about the San Francisco 49ers, unequivocally, being the best team and the team to beat in the NFL this season."
This sounds very, very familiar to some of the thoughts we had about Minnesota after the 2017 season when they made it all the way to the NFC Championship with Case Keenum as their quarterback.
Once the Vikings signed Cousins in 2018, many felt the pieces were already in place for the team to compete for a championship. But as we know, that's not exactly how things have turned out for Minnesota during Cousins' tenure with the team.
Would things turn out differently for San Francisco if they were able to acquire the veteran quarterback this offseason? Would the familiarity between Cousins and Shanahan translate to the 49ers becoming the team that is finally able to help the longtime NFL quarterback reach his full potential?
Based on Cousins' track record during his career, it's pretty difficult to believe that he could suddenly be the missing piece for San Francisco's championship aspirations. But Schein certainly thinks differently, as he believes a reunion between Shanahan and Cousins could potentially lead the 49ers to winning their sixth Super Bowl in franchise history.