The Vikings’ quarterback search reportedly went beyond Kirk Cousins before Minnesota settled on the familiar face.
Ahead of Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, the team finalized a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders for Cousins, sending a 2027 third-round draft pick to Las Vegas. But according to well-known NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Minnesota had already checked on a few bigger names before landing there.
Schultz said the Vikings “also inquired about” Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers, Daniel Jones of the Indianapolis Colts and Geno Smith of the New York Jets. None of those possibilities, he suggested, ever got close to becoming a real option for Minnesota before the Cousins agreement came together.
Herbert, Schultz reported, was never available. “The Chargers, I’m told, immediately shut down all inquiries for Herbert, who also has a no-trade clause,” he said.
The Chargers signed Herbert to a five-year, $262.5M contract extension in the summer of 2023, and the 28-year-old had become part of trade chatter this fall as Los Angeles stumbled to 0-8. Even so, the Chargers did not appear interested in making a sweeping move before the deadline, and Herbert is now expected to remain in place at least through the start of the 2027 campaign.
Jones was another name Minnesota checked on, helped by his familiarity with Kevin O’Connell. The two worked together when Jones was with Minnesota from late November 2024 through the end of that season. But even with the Colts entering a fire sale before their 2-7 record dropped further this past Sunday, Schultz said Indianapolis had already told Jones earlier in the weekend that he would not be moved.
“The Colts listened but did not want to move Jones,” Schultz explained.
As for Smith, the Jets were apparently unwilling to part with him despite their own struggles. Before the Cousins trade was reported, it had already been noted that the 2-7 Jets still wanted to give head coach Aaron Glenn “every opportunity to show he can/can’t be this team’s coach moving forward,” and that they did not “want to sell away players who can help him do that.”
Schultz added that “the Jets felt Smith was too important to the team and the development of other players.” Whether that development ends up helping Glenn keep his job through the offseason remains to be seen.
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