Kyler Murray or Carson Wentz? Carson Wentz or Kyler Murray?
The answer could be neither.
The seemingly soft benching of Murray, who is dealing with a hamstring injury that might not have kept him out of play if the Vikings had beaten the Lions on Sunday, gives Wentz a chance to beat the Bills 6-1 on Monday night. If he succeeds, Wentz could keep his job for the rest of Gjallarhorn’s four games that end with trips to Wisconsin to face the Packers and to Mexico to face the 49ers.
If Wentz fails, the Vikings could step up. Immediately.
The Vikings will have about 16 hours after the end of Monday night’s game to reach a deal with another team for a quarterback. Monday we makes the case for a trade for Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. As the week went on, various clues emerged that this is a real possibility.
Jones, who is surely dismayed by the Colts’ decision to throw in the towel prematurely by trading guard Quenton Nelson and defensive tackle DeForest Bucker, would likely welcome the chance to return to a team he spent a few months with in 2024 — and lead the effort to propel the neo-Purple People Eaters into the playoffs.
The other possibility would be to try to bring Kirk Cousins home. It would be more difficult. At 4-4, the Raiders are on the fringes of the competition. Win or lose Sunday in San Francisco, why disrupt something that works? Cousins currently ranks third in passing yards with 2,124 and second in touchdown passes with 19. His passer rating of 101.4 is higher than that of Josh Allen.
Even if the Raiders were inclined to move Cousins and roll with Fernando Mendoza, it would cost a lot less to get Jones than it would to get Cousins. Especially since the Colts may already be considering firing Jones before a $4 million bonus expires in March and $6.51 million of his $33.49 million salary is fully guaranteed.
With a new general manager coming in next year, why wouldn’t the Colts want to start with a clean slate? This would eliminate $38 million in unsecured liquidity for 2027. Trading Jones would result in a valuation; cutting Jones wouldn’t get them anything.
Everything will perhaps be decided Monday evening. If Minnesota wins, there’s a good chance nothing will happen. If Minnesota loses, Tuesday could become a very interesting day.
Gn sports
