One of my favorite things about sports is its subjectivity.<\/p>\n
Two people can look at the exact same performance, prospect, or play call and come to completely different conclusions. \u201cHe played terribly\u201d vs. \u201cHe had a sneaky-good game.\u201d \u201cThe guy is just a winner\u201d vs. \u201cHe\u2019s a product of his system.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s what makes sports such a fertile breeding ground for discourse and debate.<\/p>\n
Different players can be a bit of a Rorschach test as a sports fan. Are you hopeful or cynical? Do you value upside in a prospect or a secure floor? What speaks to you, stylistically?<\/p>\n
As the Minnesota Vikings find themselves deep in the throes of yet another quarterback controversy, everyone seems to have \u201ctheir guy.\u201d Whether you\u2019re shooting for the moon<\/a> with your hopes for an elite player like Joe Burrow<\/a>, or convincing yourself that one franchise\u2019s trash<\/a> can be another team\u2019s treasure (ahem, Geno Smith<\/a>), you\u2019ve probably found yourself getting emotionally attached to one idea over the others.<\/p>\n I have no idea what the Vikings are going to do at quarterback this offseason, but I have some theories as to what your preferred quarterback might say about you as a fan.<\/p>\n Joe Burrow<\/p>\n You\u2019re that guy in your fantasy football league who loves trading for the best player on the last-place team, trying to take advantage of their desperation.<\/p>\n Like all Vikings fans, you\u2019re desperate to finally have a top franchise quarterback, and no amount of potential draft capital or injury risk will sway you away from this. The idea of reuniting Justin Jefferson<\/a> with his college quarterback and watching those fireworks feels like a dream you never want to wake up from.<\/p>\n I suggest you get out your voodoo dolls and place every curse on the Cincinnati Bengals you can think of. The worse things get for them, the more likely this fantasy becomes, even the faintest possibility. For this divorce to become possible, things are going to need to get a lot messier than they are now<\/a>.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s the kind of thing that becomes more realistic perhaps in 2027 or beyond. That said, keep annoying every Bengals fan you know; it\u2019s payback for all the Justin Jefferson rumors<\/a> they peddled a few years ago.<\/p>\n Mac Jones<\/a><\/p>\n I can see it now. You sat on your couch watching Mac Jones fill in for Brock Purdy<\/a> for the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5, you shook your head in disbelief as the former first-rounder balled out<\/a> for 342 yards and two TDs, and you swore at your TV: \u201cDammit, why can\u2019t our guy do that!\u201d<\/p>\n Jones represents all your frustration with J.J. McCarthy in a nutshell. He lacks talent, with an average arm and athleticism, but Shanahan made it work. He just kept completing passes. It was functional.<\/p>\n The idea of that functionality in Minnesota is exactly the pendulum swing you\u2019re looking for after a season of rampant dysfunction. He\u2019s likely to<\/a> cost money and draft capital, but you\u2019re convinced that Minnesota can lowball its way to a competent starting quarterback.<\/p>\n Just don\u2019t think back to the last time we saw Mac Jones not in Shanahan\u2019s offense. Because I still remember<\/a> the 2024 Vikings vs. Jacksonville Jaguars game<\/a>, when Flores put that poor man through the shredder.<\/p>\n Kyler Murray<\/a><\/p>\n You definitely play video games<\/a>, feel like shorter men don\u2019t get enough respect, and love college football. You saw Kyler play like a human cheat code at Oklahoma and still have that image of the gunslinging, lightning-quick, shorter version of Lamar Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n QB1 ON THE RUN.<\/p>\n Kyler Murray takes it 67 yards for the @OU_Football<\/a> TD and we’ve got ourselves a game! pic.twitter.com\/LwDOtn6EfK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 6, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n I say you play video games not just because you\u2019re less likely to judge Murray for grinding his kill-to-death ratio on Black Ops 7, but because Murray is also exactly the type of quarterback you wanna use in Madden. And you feel like there\u2019s an opportunity to resurrect Kyler\u2019s upside if KOC gets his hands on him.<\/p>\n The problem is that Murray hasn\u2019t exactly been the gunslinger he was early in his career. Whether that\u2019s due to health or coaching, he\u2019s become much more of a point guard these days than a big-game hunter. It would take a change in philosophy for O\u2019Connell or Murray to make this marriage work, but the athletic potential is certainly there.<\/p>\n Geno Smith<\/p>\n The idea of finding success with the Seattle Seahawks\u2019 sloppy seconds feels like karmic justice. You hand-wave off his catastrophic season with the Las Vegas Raiders as a Raiders problem, not a Geno problem. You convince yourself that his downfield aggression is a nice fit with O\u2019Connell\u2019s vertical passing game. There\u2019s enough highlight film from Smith\u2019s tenure in Seattle that you can convince yourself there\u2019s still a viable player in there.<\/p>\n Tua Tagovailoa<\/a><\/p>\n You\u2019re probably the kind of parent who tells your kid to \u201cRub some dirt in it\u201d and \u201cWalk it off\u201d when they should definitely be going to the hospital.<\/p>\n Sure, he\u2019s got<\/a> bad hips, bad ankles, and scrambled eggs between the ears, but that\u2019s just the price you pay for playing a man\u2019s game out there! Beyond the injury history, there\u2019s the strange mismatch of Tua\u2019s lack of arm strength and rotation tanking his downfield velocity with a coach obsessed with throwing the deep ball.<\/p>\n Tua actually has played his best ball when he\u2019s able to go deep, but he doesn\u2019t do so with long-developing play action or seven-step drops. His game is to hit his back foot, grip it, and rip it, using anticipation and pre-snap reads to make decisions fast. If he can read things correctly, it can lead to shots outside the numbers, just getting that ball out early in the play while still in his range.<\/p>\n Tua\u2019s first TD to Tyreek Hill \u2014 Kyle Hamilton legitimately has no idea where Hill is until he\u2019s three yards past him. <\/p>\n Marcus Peters also gets out of his backpedal as he\u2019s even with Hill \u2014 and y\u2019all know the phrase\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/tZbvgPIGsm<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Marcel Louis-Jacques (@Marcel_LJ) September 19, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n There\u2019s money involved<\/a>, but you feel there\u2019s a skill set for KOC to develop.<\/p>\n Kirk Cousins<\/a><\/p>\n Your mom loves this idea. She always liked Kirk Cousins and thought he was a nice role model for young boys. And you like him too.<\/p>\n Whether it was embracing the Kirko Chainz memes<\/a> of yesteryear, or you were someone who planted your flag on the pro-Kirk side of the debate, you look back fondly on his tenure in Minnesota. Life seemed better back then, and you like knowing what you\u2019re getting<\/a>. You\u2019ve seen the marriage between O\u2019Connell and Cousins work once, and you\u2019re convinced it can happen again.<\/p>\n Perhaps unrelated, but you also loved the Thielen trade<\/a> when it happened last August. (Right there with you<\/a>, buddy!)<\/p>\n Anthony Richardson<\/a><\/p>\n You squint, and you feel like you can see a young Cam Newton<\/a>. Coincidentally, Richards also squints, because he may or may not have only one<\/a> eye these days.<\/p>\n Even with both eyes, he was pretty awful in Indianapolis. A change of scenery is necessary if Richardson is ever going to reach the perceived ceiling<\/a> he had on draft night, but it feels strange to move on from one project just to take on another. Or perhaps worse, have Minnesota\u2019s coaching staff multitasking two projects at once.<\/p>\n Even going back to college, we\u2019ve yet to see extended periods of good play from Anthony Richardson \u2014 but those traits are simply too good for you to pass up. He\u2019s got the arm, the size, the speed. There\u2019s just that pesky problem of him being bad at football.<\/p>\n You can fix him, though, if he just gives you a chance.<\/p>\n Derek Carr<\/a><\/p>\n You\u2019re wrong. Pick a new one.<\/p>\n J.J. McCarthy\u00a0<\/p>\n You don\u2019t give up. You refuse to let the Vikings organization become the Cleveland Browns, cycling through quarterbacks without allowing them to truly develop. J.J. McCarthy reviving his career elsewhere, Sam Darnold-style, would haunt you forever.<\/p>\n You likely staked your claim on McCarthy early in the process, whether it was defending the pick on draft night<\/a> or fighting against McCarthy\u2019s meme-ification<\/a> this past season. You\u2019re convinced there\u2019s still something there, and think the organizational scapegoating over a 23-year-old\u2019s struggles 10 games into his career is embarrassing.<\/p>\n