BREAKING; NFL Insider Floats Wild Vikings Trade: Sam Howell for $27.5M QB Shake-Up”

The Minnesota Vikings are entering the 2025 season with one of the youngest and most inexperienced quarterback rooms in the NFL—a risky setup for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, assuming they can get high-level play at the position.

That uncertainty could lead to another quarterback move before the regular season kicks off in early September.

On June 4, ESPN insider Seth Walder proposed a trade idea that would reunite the Vikings with former starter Kirk Cousins. In the hypothetical deal, Minnesota would send backup quarterback Sam Howell and cash considerations to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for Cousins.

“The key to any Cousins trade is how much of his guaranteed salary the acquiring team is willing to absorb,” Walder wrote. “Let’s say the Vikings take on $12 million. That helps Atlanta save face while swapping in a new backup QB. For Minnesota, having a proven backup behind McCarthy is more valuable. Cousins would need to accept a lesser role, but he’d be back with head coach Kevin O’Connell.”

Atlanta signed Cousins in free agency before the 2024 season, luring him away from Minnesota with a four-year, $180 million deal, including $100 million guaranteed—even though he was 36 and recovering from a torn Achilles. Since then, the Vikings have signed Sam Darnold, who made the Pro Bowl in 2024, and used the 10th overall pick on J.J. McCarthy.

The Falcons still owe Cousins $27.5 million this season after paying a $10 million roster bonus in March. He started 14 games last year, finishing 7-7 with 3,508 yards, 18 touchdowns, and a league-high 16 interceptions. Atlanta eventually benched him for rookie Michael Penix Jr., whom the team drafted No. 8 overall.