Will Vikings trade for a QB before Tuesday's deadline? Pierre Noujaim weighs in

9 all day at 11. We've got a little ticker. Do we have the ticker? There it is. The clock is ticking. We are on the clock. The NFL trade deadline, three hours, 39 minutes and six seconds away. After last night's game, let's just call it an offensive debacle. Pierre Nugent is here with us. What the Vikings are looking to do deal-wise, Adam Schefter, we know, up here, reporting the Vikings are making calls about a possible deal. Good to see you, first off, and what are you hearing? Well, Tom, you know, this is one of those days where I have my phone right next to me at all times. I've got the TV on in front of me because you don't want to miss a single second of what could happen on trade deadline day in the National Football League. And, yeah, after last night's performance, I know everybody is wanting to hear news about the Vikings potentially acquiring another quarterback. But when it comes to that position, it's easier said than done, obviously. Obviously, at this point, The only scenario that I see happening for Minnesota is if they offer a treasure trove of draft picks to the Chargers for Justin Herbert. And even though the Chargers are winless and the only winless team in the NFL right now, I just don't see why the Chargers would be incentivized to trade away their franchise quarterback and completely start all over. I know that there's no incentive for them to keep winning at this point of the season. But at the same time, I just don't think NFL franchises are incentivized. to trade away a franchise quarterback just because the season has not gone the way they thought it would. So what other options does that really leave for Minnesota? Kirk Cousins is another clear name that everybody thinks would be an obvious fit here in Minnesota. The Raiders are still in playoff contention and Kirk Cousins has had a pretty good season for them. He's played well for them. I know they have Fernando Mendoza waiting in the wings, but Are the Raiders really incentivized to trade away Kirk Cousins right now with them being in the playoff hunt? I'm not so convinced they are. So I know everybody's hoping for fireworks, I'm not holding my breath at this point. And we also, when of course, Sam Darnold is here, so was Daniel Jones. We let both of them walk out of the building. What about Daniel Jones? Are you hearing anything about that? And is there any, he knows KOC system as does Captain Kirk. But what are we hearing about Danny Dimes? Yeah, I don't see Indianapolis really being all that incentivized to hold on to Daniel Jones. But at the same time, reports coming out earlier in the week that the Colts weren't making him available in the trade. Now, that could change in the next few hours. But from what I've read and from what I've learned, the Colts are not making him available in the trade. So if that's the situation, sounds like the Colts are going to hold on to him. Now, their backup, Anthony Richardson, that could be a different story. I don't know if the Colts perhaps would be willing to part with Anthony Richardson, but that would be a little bit of a project at this point because Anthony Richardson doesn't have that many starts to his name in the NFL, and I don't think at this point of the season Kevin O'Connell wants to try to acquire a guy and try to mold him and have time to mold a guy into a brand-new offense. I don't know if Daniel Jones exactly is going to be an option for this team at this point. Speaking of the Colts, we do know that they are Jonathan Taylor. They're very serious about maybe dealing this terrific running back. We could use a terrific running back. What are you hearing on that front? Yeah, it would take a lot to get him, and suddenly after last night's performance, running back doesn't seem all that important at this point. And here's the funny thing, Tom. Earlier in the season, this team was pretty effective and pretty consistent running the ball, and they were winning games. While running the ball, I mean, you look back at that Bears game, you look at games against the Saints. I mean, this team was effective running the football, and you heard Kevin O'Connell last night admit after the game he should have run the ball more. I don't understand why he didn't run the ball more. I mean, it's pretty obvious that they couldn't move the ball via the air. So, you know, with Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones back there, yeah, they're not the most explosive backs in the world. But I think with the two of them in the backfield, I think they are both effective enough in terms of having a work share load. To continue to help this offense advance. So that's why I say running back is not exactly high on my priority list. If I'm a Viking right now, I'm looking at everything you can do to possibly upgrade the quarterback position, everything. Yeah, I mean, right, it has to be priority one because you saw the defense was. You saw what they did to Josh Allen in the first half and how frustrated Josh Allen was and what they held them three points. And they looked fantastic and then of course they were on the field like they were against the Lions a majority of the time. So that by the time the second half rolls around, especially the fourth quarter, those players are gassed. You can see why they've been out there 85, 90% of the time. Yeah, James Cook didn't have as big of a night as Jameer Gibbs did last week, but you could see in the second half, just like we saw in the second half of last week's game in Detroit, that James Cook was starting to get stronger as the game was going on, and that was an indication that the defense was just on the field way too much. I mean, offensively, this team only possessed the ball for just over 17 minutes in the game, Tom. Just over 17 minutes. That is an unsustainable formula. 14 moving forward, you're going to gas out your defense at this point. And I have to be perfectly honest, there was a point in the game last night where Blake Cashman left with what looked like a little bit of a neck injury. He did eventually come back into the game, but I thought in the moment, if Blake Cashman were hurt to the point where he would have to be put on IR, I would be sitting here with you this morning saying, I think the Vikings, even though they're sitting at 6-2, I think they should be full-blown sellers. Because Blake Cashman is as important to this team as anybody. He's the heart and soul of that defense, no doubt about it. When he was out last year for the five games, guess what? We lost five games, those five games. Yep, no doubt about it. Pride of Eden Prairie, that kid. And I got to watch him in high school. And I said, he won the state championship for them his senior year, playing on both offense and defense. You knew he was special. It's like, this guy's going to be something. And, of course, he is. Absolutely. Absolutely. Are there any other names you're kicking around? I know the buddies and I last night watching the game were like, what about Mac Jones? We're throwing out different names. Anyone? Anyone? Yeah. Mac Jones is an interesting one. I mean, I think that would be a good fit between Mac Jones and Kevin O'Connell. But, again, you have to go back to the notion. Brock Purdy would be just one hit away. And the 49ers right now look to me like the best team in football. Yeah, they do. I do. And so... If I'm Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch out there in San Francisco, why would I trade my insurance policy when I have a team that looks like they're on the doorstep of possibly representing the NFC in the Super Bowl? So... You would have to really, really sweeten the deal, I think, for San Francisco to give up Mac Jones. Yeah. You know, we talked about Daniel Jones. We've talked about Justin Herbert, Kirk Cousins. Yeah. One name that I have heard kind of floating around out there is Geno Smith. Yeah, we talked about him last night, too. Yeah, he... It wouldn't be my first choice. Obviously, it wouldn't be my first choice. Would it be an upgrade? I'm not so sure that Geno Smith would be all that much big of an upgrade over Kyler Murray, if I'm being perfectly honest with you. So, Geno Smith kind of, that's my reaction to Geno Smith. It's kind of, meh. Is it enough to put Minnesota over to the top? I don't think so. Right. So. I probably would back off of Geno Smith a little bit. Right. And people who may have forgotten, we have a new general manager, came over from Seattle, had been under John Schneider for years. Do you get the feeling this guy is pretty shrewd and a dealmaker kind of guy? What's your thoughts on that? Well, that remains to be seen, to be perfectly honest, because Nolan Teasley got a late start here in Minnesota. He wasn't hired until the end of May, so Nolan Teasley didn't really have a hand in constructing this roster. And this is the funny thing you have to think about moving forward here, Tom. Nolan Teasley didn't hire Kevin O'Connell. Nolan Teasley didn't pick Kyler Murray as his quarterback. No, he didn't. When you're a new general manager in the NFL, typically general managers want to handpick their head coach and handpick their quarterback. And if things continue to go further south, for as much respect as Nolan Teasley and Kevin O'Connell have for each other and how much I'm sure they'd be willing to work together and continue to work together, I mean, Kevin O'Connell is going to be feeling some heat. Not just today, but for the rest of the season. Because in all honesty, Nolan Teasley has no ties really to Kevin O'Connell. This is an arranged marriage right now. So if things continue to go further south, Nolan Teasley is going to sit back and say to everybody, including ownership, I want to pick my head coach. I want to pick my quarterback. Right. And he's certainly going to have the opportunity to pick the quarterback next year. As far as the head coach, we'll see what happens the rest of the season and see what they decide in the offseason. We know he's got to love his defensive coordinator. There's no doubt about that. That's an interesting situation that could be developing, Tom, because as you know, the lawsuit against the NFL regarding Brian Flores has very likely prevented him from getting a head coaching job in the NFL after he was fired from Miami a handful of years ago. But I think this is an interesting situation where you clearly see How much of an impact he makes on defense and would the Wilfs be willing to part with Kevin O'Connell and promote a Brian Flores? This is all just talk. This is fodder for talk radio and all that stuff. We haven't reached that point of the season yet. But that's an interesting conversation that I think a lot of people are thinking about right now. Which is what we talked about last night. So, yeah, you know that... People are talking about that, that's for sure. All right, Pierre, thanks for all the information. We know you're going to be steadfast and watching your phone, watching what's going on as it happens, and let us know. So thanks so much for the update and for letting us pick your sports brand on all this and also kind of the cathartic process the day after because you've got... You've got this team that's like Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde. It's great on defense, and then you're looking at the offense kind of like with your hands over your eyes. You know, man. It was tough. It was real tough last night. Real tough. All right, buddy. Thanks so much. We'll catch you later. Appreciate it. Pierre Nuisempty from Fox Sports here. 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