Vikings Named a Top Landing Location for Starting QB in the Playoffs
The Minnesota Vikings’ biggest question mark for 2024 is at quarterback, and free agency has the best chance of providing an answer.
QB Mason Rudolph of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will start in that team’s opening playoff game on Super Wild Card Weekend, has Minnesota as one of his favorite destinations, according to Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder.
There aren’t many noteworthy upcoming free agents in Pittsburgh, and Rudolph wasn’t one of them a month ago, let alone at the start of the season.
But there’s no doubting that since he took over at quarterback, the offensive for the team has significantly improved. Throughout the season, it averaged 17.9 points per game (twentieth in the NFL), but in the final three games, it increased to 27.0 ppg (fifth).
In addition, this is a comparatively weak class of free agents for quarterbacks. If there’s one thing that general managers should have learned this season, it’s that it pays to have a reliable backup signal-caller on staff. Rudolph will have the chance on Sunday to demonstrate his skills to potential employers in the event of a quarterback competition during training camp.
While some Vikings supporters may roll their eyes and groan in profound frustration at the thought of Rudolph playing at center, there are a number of situations when adding him to the roster makes sense.
The first is to support Kirk Cousins in the event that the team decides to re-sign its six-year starter. Although Nick Mullens’ contract expires in 2024, he is a marketable asset with a salary cap cost of just $2.2 million the next year.
With 20 starts under his belt (5-15), Mullens has proven to be a respectable backup in various aspects of the game, but his incapacity to guard the ball cost the Vikings a postseason berth in the latter part of 2023.
