As the 2024 NFL Draft approaches, Minnesota Vikings fans are divided on who they want to be the next franchise quarterback. Since the start of the process, there have been numerous reports linking Minnesota to J.J. McCarthy and Drake Maye.
The reported interest in both players makes sense. The Vikings have spent a huge amount of time developing these quarterbacks, and Kirk Cousins has left. They’ve made no secret of their aspirations to choose their new franchise quarterback in April.
But why is there a shortage of Jayden Daniels steam? According to Alec Lewis of The Athletic, the Vikings may favor Daniels over Drake Maye and JJ McCarthy. However, there is no national buzz about the Vikings and Daniels. But, locally, Lewis isn’t the only insider keeping an eye on the Vikings, Jayden Daniels, and Jayden’s potential climb into the top three next month, rather than Drake.
Don’t underestimate the Minnesota Vikings’ interest in Jayden Daniels.
On his Thursday scoop session with the SKOR North Mackey & Judd Show, local insider Darren “Doogie” Wolfson discussed how he smells something fishy about the absence of buzz around the Vikings’ interest in Daniels, which he claims is still very real based on what he is hearing.
Hiding Interest in Jayden Daniels Makes Sense for the Minnesota Vikings.
From the Minnesota Vikings’ perspective, it makes little sense to publicly alert other teams that they are interested in Jayden Daniels, assuming he is their target.
The more they express interest in trading up for a different quarterback, the simpler it may be to land the LSU/ASU product. That is possibly what the Vikings are attempting to prevent in order to maintain as much draft money as possible. That is undoubtedly a chess over checkers move.
Even though no official visit has been scheduled (yet), the Vikings’ reported interest in Daniels is unsurprising. As previously said, the Vikings were among the first teams to extensively analyze the dual-threat quarterback in college. His ability to deliver accurately on the run, combined with his LSU ties, most certainly piqued their interest. However, even the Vikings did not expect the Heisman-winning quarterback’s popularity to grow to the point where he is now commonly regarded as a top-three draft pick.
Even if the Vikings were convinced Daniels was the best option early on, they never expected to finish with a top-five choice. But Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made a risky play by obtaining two first-round picks. Now the question is whether he can package 11 + 23 plus more to move up to No. 3 and snag what could be Minnesota’s top QB prospect.
As Wolfson points out, there hasn’t been much talk about Daniels joining the Vikings—at least not on the same scale as the reports on McCarthy and Maye. However, as we’ve seen before, just because a team hasn’t formally scheduled a visit with a prospect doesn’t mean they aren’t secretly planning to choose him. At this point in the offseason, it’s all a game, and the Vikings are simply playing along.
