ESPN’s Jordan Reid shed light on a fact that may bring even more eyes to the race for QB4 than before. Reid tweeted that the last eight drafts have seen the fourth quarterback taken at various spots throughout the draft, from the top ten to just squeaking into day two.
- 2023: Pick #33 (Will Levis – Tennessee)
- 2022: Pick #94 (Matt Corral – Carolina)
- 2021: Pick #11 (Justin Fields – Chicago)
- 2020: Pick #26 (Jordan Love – Green Bay)
- 2019: Pick #42 (Drew Lock – Denver)
- 2018: Pick #10 (Josh Rosen – Arizona)
- 2017: Pick #52 (Deshone Kizer – Cleveland)
- 2016: Pick #51 (Christian Hackenberg – New York Jets)
Looking at the teams, and the prospects chosen, there is one clear connection between all of these names: They are all traits-based picks. From Hackenberg’s pro-style approach to Levis’ rocket launcher, every one of these players had some trait that allowed the organization that drafted them to bet on their development. While some of these have not panned out, the best example on this list of a QB4 bet paying off is, by far, Green Bay’s Jordan Love.
Love’s development behind Aaron Rodgers has finally revealed itself on the biggest stage of his career thus far as he helped lead the Packers to a 48-32 win against the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card of the playoffs.
For the Minnesota Vikings, this is good news. If the plan is to bring back Kirk Cousins for another season (which is not definite), betting on one of these quarterbacks in this year’s drafts and their traits (i.e. Michael Penix Jr. and his deep ball accuracy, J.J. McCarthy and his playmaking, etc.) may be the best answer for the future of the position.
The beauty of having Cousins for another year is that it gives another year for Minnesota to find that long-term answer at the quarterback position. That also means that if they fall in love with one of the prospects in this year’s draft, outside of the obvious top three, that should give them a year to develop under both Cousins and head coach Kevin O’Connell to be the franchise quarterback Vikings fans have been looking for since Frank Tarkenton.