Blow it all up: 3 players Vikings should trade after 0-3 start

Vikings trade candidate after 0-3 start, No. 1: Kirk Cousins, QB

The conversation has to come here, right? Kirk Cousins is in the final year of his contract with Minnesota and there have already been rumblings that the team will move on from him heading into 2024. Why not expedite the process by trading him in the 2023 season?

In reality, it's the most sensible move for the Vikings with the season already looking lost, even after just three weeks. The 2024 NFL Draft quarterback class, headlined by Caleb Williams, is one of the best that we've seen top-to-bottom in a long time. As such, trading Cousins, getting a look at rookie Jaren Hall, and then drafting a player highly come April -- whether that's Williams, Drake Maye or someone else -- is a great plan, especially with an expensive Justin Jefferson extension likely to hit the books soon.

Even better for the Vikings, there are several teams that could, in theory, be interested. The most obvious would be the New York Jets, a team with a roster that they believed was Super Bowl-caliber with the right quarterback, but then lost Aaron Rodgers after four snaps. As the Zach Wilson experiment continues to yield horrendous results, they could be willing to spend to get Cousins to save this season.

Other potential suitors could include the Cincinnati Bengals should Joe Burrow's injury continue to linger, the Las Vegas Raiders if they want to try and upgrade from Jimmy Garoppolo, or any team that suffers a quarterback injury from here on out.

With the way things have started, this season might already be dead in the water for the Vikings. Trading Cousins to a needy team would net valuable draft capital and, at the end of the day, give Minnesota the best chance for future success.