The Minnesota Vikings don’t have any interest in Michael Penix Jr., or do they? It’s not the regular season, nor is it the playoffs. It’s officially smokescreen season, and we’ll be here all month, chopping up the latest NFL Draft rumors.
This time of year, it’s all about picking through the latest Vikings news, trying to decipher what’s real and what’s BS. Ultimately, only the Vikings’ front office knows which players Kwesi Adofo-Mensah would legitimately consider targeting at No. 11 or possibly even trading up for.
The list presumably begins with (in no particular order) Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and JJ McCarthy, but what if there’s a scenario that involves Michael Penix Jr. swapping out one purple jersey for another? They haven’t been able to lock in workouts with every QB target yet but we know the Vikings have privately worked out both McCarthy and Penix Jr.
Entire Minnesota Vikings coaching staff flies to Michael Penix Jr
It all likely depends on the teams picking ahead of the Vikings, where we’ll have to wait until draft day to learn which prospect unexpectedly becomes available. Yet, until April 25, the top decision-makers, including Kevin O’Connell, don’t have a choice but to turn over every stone in their search for Minnesota’s next franchise QB.
That process has now led them to Washington, where the entire staff reportedly held a private meeting/workout with Michael Penix Jr.
Of all the quarterbacks mentioned, Penix is the one least frequently linked to the Vikings. When the Vikings made the trade to acquire an extra first round pick, many assumed this knocked Penix out of the competition. But we’ve since learned that it was actually Houston that pushed hard to swing a deal with Minnesota, not the other way around.
In turn, it’s very possible the Vikings have kept a keen eye on Penix all along. Which, considering several scouts have raved about Penix, even going so far as to say he has the most arm talent in the 2024 NFL Draft class, including Caleb Williams, it’s not hard to see how the Vikings’ top brass could be infatuated with the former Huskies QB.
“I don’t think he has the arm like Mahomes (discussing Caleb Williams). If you’re talking about elite arm talent in this class, that would be (Michael) Penix. If Caleb can get better at getting rid of the ball quicker, at standing in the pocket and getting it out and get better at diagnosing post-snap movement, I think that’ll be a really good pick.”
Anonymous NFL talent evaluator who spoke to The Athletic
Elite arm talent and the Vikings may be able to get him at 11 without selling the farm and the farm’s future offspring? That sounds too good to be true. But did the Vikings come away from Penix’s workout feeling the same way? We may not have our answer until draft day.
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