If Justin Jefferson doesn't sign extension, is he the ultimate trade bait for QB?

Imagine using Jefferson to move up in the draft to get a franchise-changing quarterback...

There have been multiple reports in the past week saying the Vikings have a contract offer on the table and the team's goal is to have Justin Jefferson put pen to paper and finalize an extension before the season begins Sunday against the Tampa Bay Bucs. 

We acknowledge that the deal could be announced at any time, but what if Sunday rolls around and the Vikings don't announce an extension for their superstar wide receiver? Suddenly the situation becomes very concerning because not only is the starting quarterback Kirk Cousins unsigned beyond this season, but Jefferson would have no long-term security beyond the $19.1 million he's schedule to make in 2024. 

At that point, does Jefferson become the ultimate trade chip? Like, seriously. This is just a wild hair idea. This is something that Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio brought up during an appearance on KFAN-FM 100.3 Wednesday morning. 

It's not a mystery of who the top quarterbacks in the 2024 NFL Draft will be. USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye look like surefire top five picks and believed to be high-end franchise-caliber QBs. 

Then there's the likes of Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, Oregon's Bo Nix, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy and Washington's Michael Penix Jr. who are highly regarded and could very well shoot up draft boards over the next seven months. The 2024 draft could be a gold mine for teams in need of a signal caller. 

Getting Williams or Maye probably requires picking in the top three. The Vikings are considered, at worst, a wild card-caliber team, so picking that high naturally is unlikely. That means the only way they can get Williams or Maye is by trading up, which would require sending the farm and hoping to the football gods that the teams picking at the top of the draft don't need a quarterback. 

Good luck, right? The stars probably won't align, but if Jefferson doesn't sign this season and the stars do align, then Jefferson could be used as a key piece of a trade package that could allow the Vikings to go for broke to find their version of Patrick Mahomes. 

Would the Vikings consider giving up an all-time great wide receiver for an opportunity to get their version of Mahomes? Would they trade a guaranteed star for an unproven quarterback? 

Let's live in that hypothetical world for a second... 

Caleb Williams slinging passes to Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn and T.J. Hockenson.

What if Addison turns out to be an A+ receiver capable of at producing numbers that can at least look respectable compared to the astronomical numbers produced by Jefferson? If Addison is the real deal and Osborn is a legit No. 2 receiver along with Hockenson, then Jefferson wouldn't be missed that much, right?

Another way to look at this is to question if you would rather have Caleb Williams or Drake Maye throwing passes to Addison, Osborn and Hockenson or would you rather have any other quarterback throwing passes to Jefferson, Addison, Osborn and Hockenson?

Of course, there's also a scenario where Williams or Maye isn't gold in the eyes of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell and they find a way to get an elite QB in the draft while keeping Jefferson. 

All this can be chucked in the trash can if Jefferson signs. If he doesn't, this is how conversations about Jefferson could go for the next six-plus months. 

Related: Bring Me The Sports' official prediction for the 2023 Minnesota Vikings