It doesn’t take much beyond an amplified voice essentially saying, “hey, this might make some sense” for a rumor to get started in modern sports.
That appears to be the case with the notion that the Vikings would be interested in trading for Rams QB Matthew Stafford. The idea was floated in a couple places, most notably by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
He wrote Tuesday: “There’s chatter that we haven’t confirmed regarding the Vikings and Rams possibly talking. I’ve been openly advocating for the move, since Stafford would make the Vikings a legitimate Super Bowl contender.”
That was enough for social media and content aggregators to let their imaginations run wild, at least until the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling did some follow-up reporting and was told by a source that there was “zero truth” to the Stafford/Minnesota rumor.
But the topic was intriguing enough for me to engage Goessling further on the topic during Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
The upshot: The Vikings could probably make the money work. But they’ve already committed to a likely succession plan with J.J. McCarthy in 2025. And they have precious little draft capital next year (a first-round pick and two fifth-rounders). A big trade before the Nov. 5 deadline might have to involve that first-round pick.
The only reason this is even a conversation topic is because the Vikings surprisingly have started 5-1. And there’s this: How much of an upgrade is a 36-year-old Stafford over Sam Darnold, the QB who has helped them to that hot start even if his own play has cooled off recently?
If we look at ESPN’s Total QBR metric, the answer is “none.” Darnold is No. 18 and Stafford is No. 19, though Stafford has been playing much of the season without standout receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.
