By Jordan Long
The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers yesterday, 24-10, and extended their winning streak to three games while improving their record to 4-4. It was a costly win. Quarterback Kirk Cousins suffered a tear in his right Achilles, ending his season. Minnesota will look for a replacement.
Cousins is in his 6th year with the Vikings. His overall record in Minnesota including this year is 50-37-1. The Vikings earned a playoff spot twice, in 2019 and last year.
Cousins looked like he was going to earn a contract extension passing for 2,331 yards and 18 touchdowns. Cousins was making great decisions with the football not forcing it into coverage, tossing an impressively low 5 interceptions.
In Sunday’s game, Cousins was 23 of 31 passing for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns. Cousins was sacked with 10:26 left in the game. He hopped off the field and didn’t put any weight on his right leg. Jaren Hall finished the game. He was 3 of 4 passing for 23 yards.
Now that Cousins is injured and done for the year, they must look at quarterbacks. On the current roster, there is only one quarterback, Jaren Hall. Hall is a rookie who has never started a game in his career. On the practice squad, the Vikings have Sean Mannion. Mannion has more NFL experience than Hall. He has been in the NFL since 2015 starting 3 games in his career, 2 for Minnesota and one for the L.A. Rams but has yet to win a game. Mannion is 67-110 passing for 573 yards with 1 touchdown. He has been picked off 3 times, not exactly confidence to say he can be the starter moving forward.
Minnesota has options. They could trade for a quarterback. The NFL Trade Deadline is tomorrow at 4 PM EST. Minnesota would need to make a move quickly. One name that makes sense is Case Keenum.
Keenum is the third quarterback on the Texans’ depth chart. He has yet to see action in a game this year. Keenum would bring in 10 years of NFL experience. He has also been a starter in the league with a record of 29-35. The Vikings are familiar with him since he started 14 games in the 2017 season, leading them to an 11-3 record. The Vikings earned a playoff spot and knocked off the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round that year. Keenum has passed for 14,884 yards and 76 touchdowns in his career. He will rarely throw for the ball into coverage for interceptions totaling 48. Keenum makes sense to land back in Minnesota.
Minnesota could always look at the free agent market if they don’t want to deal away a draft pick. Those quarterbacks are Colt McCoy and Carson Wentz among others. McCoy was brought in for a workout with Minnesota on October 10th but wasn’t signed to a contract. McCoy’s record as a starter is 11-25, not great. He has thrown for 7,975 yards and 34 touchdowns. McCoy’s problem is he can’t seem to read defenses well with 32 interceptions.
Wentz has been in the NFL for 7 years. He played for Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Washington. His overall record is 46-45-1. Wentz has 151 touchdowns and tossed 66 interceptions.
The Vikings must do what is best for the team moving forward. They need to add a quarterback to the roster. Only having Sean Mannion and Jaren Hall on the roster isn’t the best idea.
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