At the end of the 2023 season, Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will sit down again with NFL agent Mike McCartney about the future at quarterback.
McCartney is known to have negotiated multiple Kirk Cousins contracts, but the conversation could shift to another quarterback – Josh Dobbs. McCartney happens to represent both quarterbacks, also impending free agents, showing two different paths the Vikings could take at quarterback.
Former Vikings lineman and NFL agent Jeremiah Sirles speculated about the upcoming negotiations at quarterback and suggested the Vikings keep Dobbs, who gives Minnesota more flexibility going forward.
“If he leads this team to a playoff win – especially if he leads this team to a playoff win – you can’t see him walking out of the building and saying, ‘We’re going to find something better in the draft,'” Sirles said of Dobbs on a Nov. 14 episode of the “Purple Insider” podcast. “Because you have to remember that if we get into the playoffs we will no longer be in the top 15. There are quarterbacks down there, but if you really believe Dobbs can give himself a chance to win, while you’re going to have to pay him some money because he’s a free agent, you don’t have to pay him Kirk Cousins’ money – and that’s the difference.”
Josh Dobbs would fit in with the Vikings’ new regime
GettyVikings quarterback Josh Dobbs
While Adofo-Mensah inherited Cousins from the Rick Spielman regime, he handled his dealings with the veteran quarterback differently.
The Vikings and Cousins camp left the negotiating table this summer without an agreed-upon extension. Cousins wants long-term security, while Adofo-Mensah has stressed that flexibility is more important for the organization right now.
Enter Dobbs.
Dobbs was a veteran quarterback who had a 2-0 record as a starter with the Vikings and could earn a starting quarterback contract after averaging just over $1 million per season over his seven-year career.
Dobbs’ deal would still pale in comparison to Cousins’ average annual earnings of $31 million with the Vikings, which would provide more financial flexibility to build a team around him while the Vikings develop a first-round quarterback.
“Kirk Cousins has been established in this league long enough. [Dobbs] “It will be more of a deal in the vein of Case Keenum when he went to the Broncos,” Sirles said, referring to Keenum’s two-year, $36 million contract he signed after leading the Vikings to the 2018 NFC Championship Had led.
“Still a big part of the change, it’s not a rookie deal. But if you can say, “I have a quarterback that I trust a lot,” I can build on that. That can run this offense with Justin Jefferson, can run this offense with TJ Hockenson, let’s get him a weapon or let’s give him a different direction, let’s get something different for him here, let’s just put one in his hand instead two into the bush and I really believe we can move forward with him.’ ”
Vikings can give rookie QB the Patrick Mahomes treatment
GettyHead coach Kevin O’Connell (left) of the Minnesota Vikings speaks with quarterback Joshua Dobbs (right) before an NFL game against the Atlanta Falcons in November 2023.
Often, first-round quarterbacks are placed in positions where they start for poor first-year teams.
That is not the case in Minnesota.
The Vikings have a smart, offensive-minded head coach, the best receiver in football and an improving offensive line surrounding a developing quarterback.
These elements were also present for the Kansas City Chiefs when they took Patrick Mahomes 10th overall in the 2017 draft. The Chiefs had veteran Alex Smith on a $17 million per year contract and gave themselves a chance to succeed with Smith while developing Mahomes into their eventual franchise quarterback.
Sirles sees Dobbs as a willing candidate to take on the role of mentor and contribute to every opportunity that comes his way, even if it means ceding the starting spot to a newcomer in a timely manner.
“Based on what I heard and know about the guy, he would look at it as me helping you, letting me coach you because you never know where you might end up in this league and we want that you two work really well together and if you get injured you have a man who can step in but if not you’re still our man.
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