Extend Cousins or ... ?

Manning and Rodgers never played when they were 40. Manning was 39 in his final season, Rodgers was 38 for most of last season. Both had the worst seasons of their careers at that age.

Yeah, well, I remember full-on fury on Vikings boards when we didn't trade away the world for Jay Cutler.

I don't put much stock in the Purple armchair GM community.

Oh, please...comparing years vs one season?  Seriously?

Going from consecutive losing seasons to 13 wins and the division title is obviously positive progress, not a stopping point (which seems to be the false narrative so enjoyed by some on here).  Liking the direction is not the same as settling for last season's results.  Anyone preaching that stupidity is choosing to be truly "challenged", bottom feeders in the team's fandom.

Assuming that a fictional trade for Lynch would be an automatic, instant improvement is far-fetched...and, as "fans" have been bailing on KAM since before his first draft, the mega-nega armchair GMs are not only laughable, but really should be mocked and marginalized consistently until we can work out that trade to the Lions for a couple pizzas and a used Bob Seger CD.  Seriously, no one would miss them.

You're not necessarily wrong, but you never leave money on the table, especially when these picks are viewed as lottery tickets and more is better.

It's not as much the first rounder. That's probably the starting point of the conversation, but I can also understand Detroit being like "no way" as they had every reason to believe they'd be drafting high yet again this season... Realistically though, they should have either gotten their 2nd rounder instead of the swap or picked up their 2nd this year with the swap. That's my bigger issue in this conversation. We probably still would have been underwhelmed by the trade even in that scenario, but it would have been a lot closer to the approximate value of what teams typically pay... and given that Kwesi phoned that in within minutes of being on the clock, he did nothing to use that leverage to his advantage.

Quite frankly I'm not trying to be right....just putting in my 2 cents. Yes, it's better to acquire higher picks in such trades, and It would've been nice to have the 18th overall pick on Thursday, BUT that ship has sailed and will soon be forgotten once Cine, Booth, Ingram, Evans, and Asamoah make All-Pro this season.

For me, personally, I think one of the things far too often overlooked is Cousins' availability. Hooker is my guy in the draft, but he already has a major injury coming in. And let's face it, guys. As Vikings fans, we already know if we draft a quarterback in the first round and he looks to be the future, something horrible is going to happen. Okay, I'm half-kidding. But we shouldn't take for granted Cousins' A) availability and B) consistency. I get all of the debates, and definitely see both sides, but my FOMO doesn't outweigh all of the positives about Cousins, especially on a discounted short-term deal, allowing us time to pick the right guy, and not just a guy. I'm with MidwinterViking on this. See how the draft plays out. Maybe be willing to renegotiate if we don't get our QBOTF this week. But forcing ourselves into drafting and starting a rookie next season (we'll get fleeced) or a random FA? Meh. 

Also, I always consider the state of the NFC. This was made a while ago, assuming a Jackson trade to the NFC, but look...



As it stands right now, you could argue Cousins is the top quarterback in the conference. I understand people are going to come back with Hurts, but also consider his OL and overall team in comparison. Also, let's see him do it consistently. But, at very worst, Cousins is #3. When was the last time we could say that about our quarterback?! Quite frankly, I don't want to take it for granted. Actually, I refuse to do so. Despite one way being more popular in recent years (young quarterbacks on rookie deals), there are still other ways to build a contender. Call me crazy, but as we sit here today, it seems more probable that this team is more likely to be a contender building around Cousins, than it is putting a question mark back at the quarterback position, despite the money it saves. Call it Purple PTSD or whatever, but I find it extremely difficult to so easily walk away from a guy of Cousins' caliber without a plan in place. We're in position to do this right, so I hope we do. Going into next offseason without a plan would be a disaster for a regime that should be expected to be really turning the corner. 

As much as I like your optimism and want you to be right, Danchat, I'm going PPA and saying this won't happen. :)