For much of the last, say, 35 to 40 seasons, the Minnesota Vikings have operated in the middle ground. They're never quite good enough, aside from an appearance in the NFC Championship Game every decade or so, to win the Super Bowl. On the flipside, they're also never quite bad enough to get a top-five draft pick and secure a potential franchise-altering player.
When the Vikings landed a top-12 pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the opportunity to jump off the contract carousel with Kirk Cousins was there, and they took it. They traded up one spot to make J.