Vikings Rumored to Consider AJ McCarron If Unable to Re-Sign Case Keenum

The Minnesota Vikings will look to AJ McCarron as a possible replacement for Case Keenum should they fail to re-sign the latter this offseason, the Pioneer Press' Charley Walters reported Saturday.

McCarron was originally set to be a restricted free agent but won his grievance against the Cincinnati Bengals, which means he will be an unrestricted free agent this spring.

Despite his relative inexperience, signing McCarron makes sense as a backup plan for Minnesota should the cost to re-sign Keenum be prohibitive. McCarron has thrown for 920 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions in 11 regular-season appearances.

The fact the San Francisco 49ers signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a five-year deal worth $137.5 million deal—with more than $48 million fully guaranteed—illustrates teams' willingness to give big money to quarterbacks with little NFL track record.

Garoppolo has only attempted 50 more career passes than McCarron, who made 133 attempts in Cincinnati.

Many Vikings fans may push for the team to pursue Kirk Cousins, whose time with the Washington Redskins appears to be over after the team acquired Alex Smith from the Kansas City Chiefs.

With a little over $49 million in salary-cap space, per Over the Cap, Minnesota would seemingly have enough to sign Cousins, though Garoppolo's deal could inflate Cousins' value.

New Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo saw plenty of Cousins while serving as the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterback coach in 2016 and 2017. DeFilippo spoke highly of the 2016 Pro Bowler in an interview with Paul Allen of KFAN in Minneapolis (h/t 247Sports' Anthony Broome).

"I know a pretty good deal about Kirk Cousins," DeFilippo said. "I've had to compete against him because we were in the same division. Kirk's a heck of a football player. He's got a lot of skills and he's accurate, with plenty of arm strength. Kirk's a very good quarterback."

That kind of endorsement may indicate Cousins is on the Vikings' radar, but that applies to basically every NFL team looking for a starting quarterback, so Minnesota would have a lot of competition.

With their reported interest in McCarron, the Vikings are seemingly preparing for multiple scenarios with regard to the quarterback position.