At 1-4, With No Justin Jefferson, Should Vikings Trade Kirk Cousins and Tank?

Is it time for a fire sale in Minnesota after Justin Jefferson's injury?

The Vikings are placing their best player, Justin Jefferson, on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, knocking him out for the next four games and possibly longer. Five weeks into the season, they're 1-4, with the lone victory coming against the only winless team in the NFL. Starting quarterback Kirk Cousins is one of several prominent players set to hit free agency after this season.

It all begs the question: With Jefferson out for a while and the odds of a season turnaround looking awfully slim, should the Vikings attempt to trade Cousins and throw in the towel on 2023?

Truthfully, it's hard to argue against that course of action as the best possible way for the Vikings to move forward. GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah should look to get whatever he can for rental assets like Cousins, Danielle Hunter, and Jordan Hicks. The Vikings should hand the offense to rookie QB Jaren Hall, who would take his lumps as the losses likely continued to pile up. The franchise would be set up to add a quarterback in what is seen as a very strong 2024 class of draft-eligible QBs. Maybe they'd even wind up low enough in the standings to land Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, the consensus top two signal-callers in the class.

But that's just an opinion on what the Vikings should do. What they actually will do isn't that simple.

As you may have heard, Cousins has a full no-trade clause. He'd have to agree to waive that in order to be moved, and Cousins may not want to learn a new offense on the fly or move his family out of Minnesota during the middle of the season. One would imagine he'd at least consider it if the Vikings approached him about a potential trade to the Jets or Falcons, but who knows?

The Wilfs, who own the Vikings, would also have to sign off on the team bailing on a season in which they've lost four one-score games and rank higher than they did last year in most advanced metrics. This is an ownership group that has always seemed averse to the idea of "tanking." Maybe they think these Vikings can win three of the next four games — even without Jefferson — and make a playoff push when their best player's hamstring has healed.

Quite frankly, thinking that way would be the worst thing the Vikings could do. This is a deeply flawed team that needs to rebuild. It's a team that needs to take a shot on a rookie quarterback next year, even if it's not Williams or Maye. It's a team that should strongly consider approaching Cousins about the idea of trading him to a new team as as soon as possible.

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