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Well that didn't take long...
Hours after the news of Ryan Poles taking the job in Chicago leaked out on Tuesday afternoon, leaving Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as the choice for the Vikings, rumors already began swirling as to what this relationship between Cleveland and Minnesota might mean with Adofo-Mensah in house.
Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com immediately mentioned the idea of bigtime quarterback trade moving Baker Mayfield to Minnesota and Kirk Cousins to Cleveland. You can see the full conversation in the video below...
Here's the blurb...
"If they want to do somethings in terms of trading Kirk Cousins of course there would be a discussion I would think that would take place between the [Vikings] and the Browns about Kirk Cousins. As we mentioned before, the Browns are going to have to turn over every single stone to make sure they have the best team they can get going forward. That includes everything including quarterback...if something arises like that [Andrew Berry] will look into it and now he would have a great working relationship with Kwesi where they could maybe try to pull something like that off."
This rumor isn't exactly new. Despite the announcement from Mayfield and the Browns that they expect to be together for the future, there's ALWAYS an opportunity for something to happen.
So what would this do for the Vikings?
First, it would get them out from underneath most of Cousins' $45 million cap hit for the 2022 season. Mayfield had one year left on his deal for $18.85 million.
Secondly, just like with Cousins, this would create a prove it year in a new environment for Mayfield, one that the team could move on from if Mayfield didn't up his performance into the future.
It makes sense, now that doesn't mean it will happen but a pipeline has been opened now between the two teams with a GM in Minnesota and a head coach in CLE, all that have ties to each other and could open doors into opportunities like this.