Grade the Trade: Vikings land Russell Wilson from Steelers in bonkers proposal

Before he eventually signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, some believed that the Minnesota Vikings were a potential landing spot for veteran quarterback Russell Wilson after he was released by the Denver Broncos earlier this year.

But then Wilson joined the Steelers, while the Vikings wound up signing Sam Darnold during free agency and selecting former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Following the recent news that McCarthy is going to miss the entire 2024 season after undergoing knee surgery, Darnold is the unquestioned starting quarterback for Minnesota this year. However, one former NFL general manager believes the Vikings should consider making a deal for Wilson in the near future.

Grade the Trade: Minnesota Vikings acquire Russell Wilson in recent trade proposal by former NFL general manager

Despite the fact that there is currently plenty of actual NFL news to talk about, some still seem to be in offseason mode with the way they are making up wacky trade ideas inside their heads.

This seems to be the case for former NFL general manager Ryan Tannenbaum, who shared the following trade idea involving Wilson and Minnesota during an episode of ESPN's "Get Up" on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately for Minnesota, history is repeating itself. We go back to 2016, very unfortunate injury, Teddy Bridgewater had a catastrophic injury at practice. Sam Bradford gets traded from the Eagles to the Vikings.

So, to me, I think a win-win here is [for the Steelers] to trade Russell Wilson to Minnesota. I think he's a better quarterback than Sam Darnold, [or] they certainly could battle it out."

Not really sure how the trade would be a win-win for the Steelers and Vikings. One could argue it would probably be a win for Pittsburgh, since they would be moving on from someone in Wilson whose play on the field is continuing to head in the wrong direction.

But a win for Minnesota? No, absolutely not.

The Vikings have already done a ton of work this offseason preparing for Darnold to be the team's starter, even before McCarthy started to pick up some hype this summer in training camp and the preseason opener.

Minnesota isn't going to trade for Wilson this late in the offseason, and expect him to start immediately while attempting to learn the team's complex offense at the same time.

The current Steelers quarterback is also one of the most polarizing players in the NFL. Wherever he goes recently, controversy seems to follow, and that's not something the Vikings should be interested in getting involved in.

Also, what in the world is Tannenbaum talking about history repeating itself in Minnesota? The Vikings' current situation is nothing like what they were dealing with in 2016.

In 2016, Minnesota was coming off of a 2015 season in which they won the NFC North with an 11-5 record, and they were hoping to be a contender in the conference once again. Then, after Teddy Bridgewater went down with an unfortunate injury, the Vikings made a trade to acquire quarterback Sam Bradford from the Philadelphia Eagles so they could still attempt to contend in the NFC.

This year for Minnesota has always been about preparing the team for 2025 and beyond. Does this mean the Vikings are going to tank and not try to make the playoffs? No, but this isn't going to be a season where they push all of their chips to the center of the table to make a run at contending for a Super Bowl trophy.

Even if some believe Wilson is currently a better quarterback than Darnold, trading for a 35-year-old signal-caller right before the start of the regular season would make absolutely no sense for Minnesota.

So, when it comes to assigning a letter grade for this trade proposal, it deserves a big fat F.

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