It Was Vikings Ownership Who Pushed Spielman to Draft an Early-Round QB

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We all knew the Minnesota Vikings went into April’s NFL Draft looking for a quarterback to possibly replace Kirk Cousins. But with Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer both on the hot seat heading into 2021, who was pushing them to take a future QB instead of a position player who can fill a hole immediately? Well, it turns out the “recommendation” for an early QB, who would eventually become Kellen Mond out of Texas A&M in the 3rd round, would come from the very top.

That’s right, the Wilf family all but called for the Vikings GM and front office to draft an early round quarterback. At least that’s what Darren Wolfson (SKOR North, KSTP) told “Mackie and Judd” this morning on SKOR North radio.

Transcript from video above:

Judd: Rick and the front office? Did Mike play a role, which I doubt. Because, I think it’s very interesting to get into the dynamic of who in that building, who has the foresight to say, ‘we are going to need a replacement for Kirk here and it’s going to, you know, actually be fairly soon’.

Wolfson: Judd, let’s start at the very very top: OWNERSHIP. I am told by multiple people that ownership drove the bus, not necessarily on that specific quarterback, Kellen Mond, but on the idea of taking a quarterback relatively high. And if it came down to it, even taking a quarterback in the first round. But that the Wilf’s didn’t want Spielman to wait until round six to take a quarterback. They didn’t want it to be like last year waiting until round 7, snagging, Nate Stanley.

I don’t want to call it an edict but there was a strong recommendation from the Wilf family to really look strongly at a quarterback really, really high. Clint Kubiak, you know from a scouting standpoint, drove a lot of the bus in terms of the background checks, in terms of being at pro days. You know, interviewing these these quarterbacks. Certainly, Clint Kubiak had a lot to do with how they stacked their board.

But I’m just telling you, Judd, I have it from from multiple angles, strong angles, that it was the Wilf’s more than anyone internally saying: ‘hey, it’s time for us to have some sort of succession plan’. ‘You guys’, this is the Wilf’s talking to Mike, to Rick, to Rob, to Jamal to others, ‘hey, you really need to take a long hard look at some of these upper-echelon quarterbacks’.

When the Wilf’s talk, Rick listens…. and hopefully Kirk does too.

The Minnesota Vikings’ owners pushing their team to draft a new quarterback shouldn’t be a surprise, in retrospect. We’d all expect the Wilf’s to be around a lot longer than Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman so it makes sense that they would be the group looking toward the future.

This news is also a wake-up call for Kirk Cousins. Wolfson went on to say in this interview (see below), that the Wilf’s seem “a bit tired of cutting big fat checks to Kirk Cousins” with minimal results. Remember, Cousins is only 32 years old, which is a prime age for NFL quarterbacks.

If the Vikings are happy with Cousins, they could logically hang onto him for the next 6-8 years and get him at the most productive time of his career. Can Kirk change the thinking of the Minnesota Vikings ownership group? Or, is he just keeping Kellen Mond’s seat warm?

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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