The Minnesota Vikings have a super talented football team.
The quarterback position, helmed at various times by Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy, has left something to be desired.
That brings the NFL trade deadline into possible focus. The deadline is Nov. 4, and while it could be hard to integrate a new QB in the middle of the season, it’s probably something the Vikings should at least consider.
The Athletic released a trade idea for the Vikings on Thursday, and it’s intriguing: The Vikes would get Mac Jones and a 2026 fifth-round pick from the 49ers for a 2026 third-rounder and a 2027 conditional third-rounder.
Jones has been very solid this season as a fill-in for Brock Purdy, but Purdy is about ready to return to the field.
The Vikings have also been linked to Kirk Cousins, but Jones would have a better chance of sticking around long term in Minnesota if this worked out.
“Jones has been a very good backup this season, and he’s shown enough to jump to the top of the line among QB reclamation projects,” The Athletic’s Jeff Howe writes. “But since Jones is playing well in place of Brock Purdy, who is becoming more of an injury risk, the Niners won’t give him away when they’ve got him signed through 2027. The Vikings don’t need to give up on 2024 first-rounder J.J. McCarthy, but they also don’t want to sacrifice a roster that’s able to make a playoff push. Jones is having even more success than Sam Darnold had in San Francisco before his stock took off with the Vikings. Jones might be able to replicate that success.”
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The biggest stumbling block here wouldn’t be on the Minnesota side. It’d be for San Francisco.
The 49ers have seen how key Jones can be to their operation, and Purdy’s injury woes this season haven’t wanted to go away.
It’d be a major risk for the ‘Niners to trade away Jones and leave themselves with just Adrian Martinez backing up Purdy.
But if San Francisco decides it can afford to try that, the Vikings could be the ideal trade partner.
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