MSN The Minnesota Vikings put their future at the quarterback position in question by declining to take a team discount from Kirk Cousins and sent the 34-year-old veteran into a contract year.

Minnesota did their diligence in scouting the 2023 draft class but did not strike on a rookie quarterback who could be ready to take the reigns by next season.

Considering the Vikings haven’t picked higher than No. 18 overall in the Cousins era and have largely been out of range of drafting an elite prospect at quarterback, Minnesota has only one route of finding their next quarterback if they do not want to give fifth-round pick Jaren Hall the starting job in 2024: acquiring a veteran quarterback by trade or in free agency.

It’s rare for a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback to become available in free agency or by trade, but there is one who could be on the market by next year — Kyler Murray.

“The Kyler Murray thing, I think there’s some potential there if the Vikings are moving on from Kirk Cousins but they win too many games to get a high draft pick,” Matthew Coller said on a July 12 episode of “The Purple Insider” podcast.

“It’s not completely absurd to think that could be something of interest for the Vikings. The most likely scenario remains… the Vikings draft somebody [to succeed Cousins]. But if they end up with 10 wins and they’re in the playoffs and they can’t get one of the top quarterbacks [in the draft], then what do you do? You start investigating other ways around that.

Coller added that he has some reservations about Murray’s leadership skills and consistency, however, a change of scenery for Murray may pay dividends in Minnesota.

“I also think it’s the closest you’d be to being a Super Bowl contender in a really long time — to have a quarterback with that talent to pair with Justin Jefferson and the rest of the playmakers they have,” Coller said.

On the other hand, Kirk Cousins’ high floor has kept the Vikings outside of range of drafting the top quarterbacks in recent years.

During the pre-draft process, KSTP’s Darren Wolfson noted that the Vikings did the most legwork on the upcoming quarterback draft class since they selected Teddy Bridgewater back in 2014.

However, there’s still no successor to Cousins in sight.

After passing on Will Levis, a projected top-five pick who fell to the second round, the new Vikings regime under Kwesi Adofo-Mensah showed it’s not willing to select any quarterback for the sake of having a backup plan for Cousins. They want to get it right.

That entails selecting a bonafide future franchise quarterback, which is rarely found outside the top 10. But getting inside the top 10 has proven difficult given the high-floor Cousins has brought the franchise.

Trading up from the middle of the draft will prove costly, but it’s the only route if the Vikings hope to draft their next franchise quarterback.