The Minnesota Vikings are fascinating heading into Week 9 of the NFL season. Quarterback Kyler Murray will miss the game with a hamstring injury. This has allowed head coach Kevin O’Connell to announce Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback. Remember, Wentz started for the Vikings for the first two weeks of the season after Murray was knocked out in the first series of the first game.
However, the quarterback position has been under the microscope for the Vikings over the past couple of seasons. For those who remember, Minnesota drafted J.J. McCarthy 10th overall in 2024. He was supposed to be the heir apparent to Sam Darnold, who left via free agency and later won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.
At the end of the 2025 season, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah drew criticism for taking McCarthy, now with the New York Giants, and not re-signing Darnold or Daniel Jones, now with the Indianapolis Colts. Not to mention, they had Kirk Cousins in the system and let him walk. So the position has had a revolving door, which has made many question Kevin O’Connell’s ability as a quarterback guru.
So for a team with a Super Bowl-calibre defence under defensive coordinator Brian Flores, it begs the question: could the Minnesota Vikings trade for another QB, given the failures of O’Connell’s hand-picked successor, Murray, to help not only keep Justin Jefferson happy but get them to a Super Bowl?
As the Night Cap Recap with Jim Biringer and Teddy Repantis discussed, as seen on Full Press Media on YouTube and Full Press Coverage on the Wire App, and confirmed by ESPN Insider Adam Schefter on Friday, the Minnesota Vikings are a team to watch when it comes to the trade deadline and the quarterback position.
Full Press Coverage Transcriptions
Jim Biringer: “I got a question for you. Yeah, I saw this proposed. I got one for you.”
Teddy Repantis: “What you got”
Biringer: “If Minnesota really wants to win, do they ask the Raiders for Kirk Cousins back?”
Repantis: “I would not think that’s out of the realm of possibility, Jimmy.”
Biringer: “Right.”
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Repantis: “And that would be so funny if the Vikings went through this whole process and they end up either and Danny Jones could be another guy because the (Indianapolis) Colts fire sale. So imagine they go through all this, and then they trade back for Cousins or a Danny Jones or something.”
Biringer: “I’m just throwing it out there. I saw it.”
We will see what happens at quarterback in Minnesota. The Vikings are hoping Wentz has magic from Week 1 to get the offense rolling again. And given the situation in Vegas with the Raiders, Fernando Mendoza is lurking, so maybe if the team keeps losing, Cousins back to the Vikings makes sense.
If there is an opportunity to win, teams like the Minnesota Vikings will go do it.
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