It’s easy to want a complete 180-degree turn when things go belly up.

For Minnesota Vikings fans, as well as head coach Kevin O’Connell, the quarterback situation was anything but steady in 2025. Therefore, it might seem obvious to try to bring some stability to the room. But stability doesn’t always mean success, and the Vikings may benefit more from taking a few more swings of the pickaxe in hopes of uncovering a diamond in a deep, dark mine.

It’s widely reported that the Vikings will bring in some legitimate competition for J.J. McCarthy, or even move on entirely, and there are dozens of different ways to turn. From Kyler Murray to Aaron Rodgers to Joe Burrow, there’s no shortage of potential avenues the Vikings can explore. While no solution is perfect, one sure-to-be polarizing option checks the most boxes for Minnesota.

With the Indianapolis Colts expected to bring back Daniel Jones in a multi-year deal, the Vikings have an opportunity to trade former fourth-overall pick Anthony Richardson. Yes, that Anthony Richardson, who somehow has a (much) worse career completion percentage than McCarthy, who took himself out of an NFL game because he felt tired, and who couldn’t beat a 40-year-old Joe Flacco for the starting job.

For those of you who haven’t logged off yet, there are several reasons why this type of deal would work out well for the Vikings.

Anthony Richardson would come relatively cheap for Minnesota, both in the draft capital to acquire him and his contract, at least for now. It would probably only take a Day 3 pick at this point to land the unfledged signal-caller, and his cap hit for 2026 is a reasonable $10.8 million. Considering the Vikings need to shed about $50 million just to be cap-compliant, finding the money for a Burrow or Lamar Jackson deal feels nearly impossible.

Assuming things work out, though, Richardson would become a lot more expensive in 2027 and beyond when he’s eligible for an extension. There’s a good chance that Minnesota has learned its lesson about keeping talented quarterbacks in the building, though.

Sure, Aaron Rodgers would probably play for an extremely team-friendly deal. Still, he just turned 42 and was Pro Football Focus’s 29th-ranked quarterback last season. He’d run the offense just fine, but his now-annual decline and Band-Aid solution at the position doesn’t inspire. The same goes for most other free-agent veterans set to hit the market, like Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco, or even Kirk Cousins. It’s simply the Carson Wentz experiment all over again.

Richardson would bring a different type of competition into the building than a seasoned vet. He has many of the same problems working against him as McCarthy, from mechanics to an inability to run an NFL offense from down to down. His 47.7 completion percentage from 2024 may scare away even the boldest of coaches. However, he has all the raw ability that made him a top-five pick.

Most people still think of Richardson as this huge project that most coaches might shy away from, but O’Connell might not bat an eye since he’s already knee-deep in a near-identical one. And, at just 23 years old, Richardson’s got time to figure things out for a team willing to spend it.

People are often quick to forget how unsuccessful Darnold was when he first joined the Vikings. Through his first six seasons in the league, Darnold completed just 59% of his passes and had a 21-35 record and a 63-56 TD:INT ratio. Not to say Richardson would see the same instant success in Minnesota as Darnold did, but it would be hard to find a better piece of clay to mold for O’Connell. Our most dedicated and good-looking readers may remember a piece from January where I looked at a new metric to identify future NFL stars. Richardson checked every single box.

But say Richardson ends up a complete “bang your head against a wall, find the Men In Black memory-erasing device, forget it even happened” type disaster — which, to be fair, can’t totally be ruled out. McCarthy is still progressing in the background of all this and may just win the job outright. After all, he won six of his 10 starts last season, including one against the Detroit Lions and one against the Chicago Bears, and finished the season on a four-game winning streak. There’s absolutely a world where he still figures things out. In the meantime, Richardson offers a high-upside, low-cost alternative.

The Vikings are facing a difficult decision at quarterback, and the knee-jerk reaction might be to pull out an UNO Reverse Card and go the safe route of securing a solid veteran. But while that approach has its advantages, it’s something the Vikings have tried time and again without success. Learned from years with Kirk Cousins, the safe bet has been just that – a pretty-looking offense that wins 10 games and then promptly gets bounced in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.

With Anthony Richardson, the Vikings get the best of both worlds: a high-upside player and someone to also push J.J. McCarthy. I mean, besides, there’s no way both Richardson and McCarthy could end up busts under Kevin O’Connell … right?