It's been a disaster for the Minnesota Vikings in the absolute worst way. After winning the NFC North and making the playoffs last season (albeit only to get upset by the Giants), they came into Week 3 at 0-2, which history has told is can be a death knell for postseason hopes. Dropping to 0-3 is even worse, though.
And that's what they did -- but they made sure to twist the knife. After the equally un-clutch Chargers went for an ill-advised fourth down up 28-24 in their own territory late, it seemed as if the Vikings had life. That seemed even truer after they converted a fourth-and-5 to get to the Chargers 6-yard line. On the next play, though, Kirk Cousins threw a back-breaking interception in the end zone to effectively give LA the win.
Now it's looking as bleak as ever for Minnesota. This team overachieved in 2022, but this has been worse than anyone expected. And it's looking more and more like they need drastic changes to make a noticeable jump up in the future. Specifically, the Vikings need to consider trading these three players to jumpstart a rebuild.
Vikings trade candidate after 0-3 start, No. 3: Jordan Hicks, LB
As the Vikings tried to retool the defense this offseason -- something that has obviously proved futile through the first three weeks -- one of the remaining pieces from last year's unit that they kept around was veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks.
Hicks was all over the field for the Vikings last season, racking up 129 total tackles with three sacks, a forced fumble, and an interception. While no one would mistake him for the all-world players in the league at the position like Roquan Smith or some of that caliber, the 31-year-old who is a free agent after the season has been a solid cog in the middle of the defense.
Frankly, Minnesota doesn't need that right now. The 0-3 start to this season has simply amplified the need for this franchise to draw a line in the sand and hit a hard reset on the roster around some key pieces like Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson, among some other young assets. An aging linebacker who could leve after this season doesn't offer much value, especially not in comparison to acquiring draft picks to help build for the future.
Hicks might not command a big price given that he's a pending free agent and 31 years old. However, for any team that's in need of a solid linebacker to help solidify the front seven, there could be a market. And anything the Vikings could get in return would be better than wasting an experienced player on a bad team and then losing him for nothing after the season.
Vikings trade candidate after 0-3 start, No. 2: Danielle Hunter, EDGE
Prior to training camp this past offseason, the Vikings agreed to a new contract for edge rusher Danielle Hunter, one that increased his pay for the 2023 season but will still make him a free agent after this season. And for all the faults that Minnesota has shown to start the year, particularly on defense, the 28-year-old pass rusher has been highly effective getting after the quarterback.
Hunter has registered at least one sack in each of the team's first three games now, including notching an impressive tally of three against the Eagles in Week 2, giving the LSU product a total of five on the season. He also has a total of seven tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and a pass defense as well to his credit.
With that being said, Hunter is like a luxury car sitting in a garage that's about to fall in on itself right now. He simply doesn't have the juice singlehandedly to save a defense that, frankly, just looks like it doesn't have enough talent to compete in the NFL. That could make him an asset worth moving for a contender that is in need of improving its pass rush or a team that suffered an injury already on the edge.
The tricky part for the Vikings would be dealing with the dead cap hits for Hunter given his new deal. Per Over the Cap, Minnesota would incur roughly a $9.45 million dead cap hit (for this full season) if he were to be traded, in addition to void years in 2024 and 2025. Having said that, for the draft capital and the overall savings, it could be worth it.
Vikings trade candidate after 0-3 start, No. 1: Kirk Cousins, QB
The conversation has to come here, right? Kirk Cousins is in the final year of his contract with Minnesota and there have already been rumblings that the team will move on from him heading into 2024. Why not expedite the process by trading him in the 2023 season?
In reality, it's the most sensible move for the Vikings with the season already looking lost, even after just three weeks. The 2024 NFL Draft quarterback class, headlined by Caleb Williams, is one of the best that we've seen top-to-bottom in a long time. As such, trading Cousins, getting a look at rookie Jaren Hall, and then drafting a player highly come April -- whether that's Williams, Drake Maye or someone else -- is a great plan, especially with an expensive Justin Jefferson extension likely to hit the books soon.
Even better for the Vikings, there are several teams that could, in theory, be interested. The most obvious would be the New York Jets, a team with a roster that they believed was Super Bowl-caliber with the right quarterback, but then lost Aaron Rodgers after four snaps. As the Zach Wilson experiment continues to yield horrendous results, they could be willing to spend to get Cousins to save this season.
Other potential suitors could include the Cincinnati Bengals should Joe Burrow's injury continue to linger, the Las Vegas Raiders if they want to try and upgrade from Jimmy Garoppolo, or any team that suffers a quarterback injury from here on out.
With the way things have started, this season might already be dead in the water for the Vikings. Trading Cousins to a needy team would net valuable draft capital and, at the end of the day, give Minnesota the best chance for future success.
