ESPN’s Jeff Darlington said that a “very tense” situation exists in the Minnesota Vikings organization just hours away from the start of the 2024 NFL Draft.
It's reportedly a tense situation inside the #Vikings war room right now… pic.twitter.com/znRv8saKXG
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 25, 2024
“Right now, they’re very tense” Darlington said of the Vikings’ war room. “They, too, are trying to figure out exactly what is going to happen. I am dead serious about that. There is some tension in this building because this is a team that knows — at the 11th spot after not re-signing Kirk Cousins, they need to find a quarterback. They would love to trade up to that No. 3 spot currently held by the New England Patriots. And the player that they have been fascinated by throughout this draft process is Drake Maye.”
Cousins — who spent six seasons playing for the Vikings — agreed to a four-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons last month. He was limited to just eight appearances with Minnesota in his final season with the team due to suffering an Achilles injury and racked up 2,331 passing yards and 18 passing touchdowns.
During his time with Minnesota, Cousins earned three Pro Bowl appearances in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
Moving on to Maye — the signal-caller that the Vikings are supposedly interested in drafting — he is fresh off an extremely prolific season of college football with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He played in 12 games for the Tar Heels during the 2023 season and totaled 3,608 passing yards and 24 passing touchdowns while completing 63.3 percent of his passes.
Maybe the quarterback’s best individual performance of the season came in a win against Syracuse University on Oct. 7 of last year. Maye threw for a season-high 442 yards and three touchdowns without registering a single interception.
While it makes sense on paper why the Vikings are allegedly trying to draft Maye, the pick that Minnesota is trying to trade up for is owned by a Patriots team that is also in desperate need of a signal-caller.
A lack of production at the quarterback position was a contributing factor in New England finishing the 2023 regular season with a poor 4-13 record, which was the worst of any team in the AFC East division. The Patriots’ starting quarterback for much of the season, Mac Jones, threw more interceptions than touchdowns in his third season in New England.
The Patriots also ranked 28th in the NFL in total passing yards (3,069) and passing yards per contest (180.5).
It will be interesting to see how the beginning of the 2024 NFL Draft plays out on Thursday night and if the Vikings will indeed be able to negotiate a trade with the Patriots in order to move up to the No. 3 overall pick.
