The Vikings have some serious business to attend to in the 2024 NFL Draft. They need to find a new quarterback.

It has been an eventful offseason for the Vikings as they saw starting quarterback Kirk Cousins leave the Twin Cities and sign a four-year, $180 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons. Minnesota general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell  had expressed their interest in keeping Cousins on the roster, but they didn't want to break the bank in order to keep him.

That's just what they would have had to do. So, they stuck to their plan and did not get cold feet. They let him go and brought in a veteran quarterback in Sam Darnold to man the position. At least for the time being.

Darnold signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Vikings, and the veteran has to know that he is just a placeholder at this point. The Vikings are hoping to draft a star quarterback. They have the No. 11 pick in the draft and they added the No. 23 pick in a trade with the Houston Texans last week. They could possibly get the fifth- or sixth-ranked quarterback with the 11th pick, but that would probably not get the quarterback the Vikings want.

However, if they package the two first-round picks, they just might be able to move up and get the quarterback that fits the team's needs.

First-round draft scenario for Vikings

The top three teams in the draft are all reportedly looking for quarterbacks. The Chicago Bears are expected to select Caleb Williams of USC with the top pick in the draft, while the Washington Commanders could take Jayden Daniels of LSU and the Patriots have Drake Maye of North Carolina in their sites.

The Vikings might want to engage either Washington or New England in trade talks, but since they both need quarterbacks, it may be difficult to entice them to make a move.

However, the Arizona Cardinals have the No. 4 pick and they are not expected to take a quarterback and the Chargers have a talented young quarterback in Justin Herbert. Since the Vikings have two first-round draft picks to offer, they should at least have an excellent chance at engaging either one of those teams and completing a trade.

J.J. McCarthy should be on the horizon for Vikings

There are six highly rated quarterbacks in this year's draft. Williams, Daniels and Maye are likely to be selected by the time the Vikings get to pick at No. 4 or 5 — assuming they can pull off a trade with the Cardinals or Chargers.

That would leave JJ. McCarthy of Michigan, Bo Nix of Oregon and Michael Penix of Washington. The indication is that the Vikings would like to draft McCarthy. If they wanted Nix or Penix, they would not have to trade up to get either one of those passers.

The belief is that Nix will be the fifth quarterback selected in the first round while Penix might not be drafted until the second round.

McCarthy may not be a polished and sophisticated product at this point because he played in a run-oriented offense with the Wolverines.

However, he has been able to beat the elite teams on the Michigan schedule and he often plays his best football when the pressure is highest. He is also an accurate passer who completed 240 of 332 passes for 2,991 yards with an impressive 22-4 touchdown to interception ratio. He also ran for 202 yards and 3 touchdowns, demonstrating he has the ability to escape the rush.

It appears that selecting McCarthy is the key to Minnesota's entire offseason.

Vikings have two fourth-round picks.

After their two first-round selections, the Vikings don't have another pick until their two fourth-round selections.

While the selection of a quarterback is the most important move they can make, they have other holes to fill. Most teams need help on the offensive line, and the Vikings are in that group. There is a good chance they could improve the depth of their blockers by selecting offensive tackle Anthony Belton of North Carolina State.

Belton has the size and strength to get the job done at 6-6 and 335 pounds. It may take him a while to get the precision down for NFL-level pass blocking, but he should be good enough from the start to do a solid job as a run blocker.

The Vikings will also need some more skill from the their pass rush. If they select Bralen Trice of Washington, they should have a player who can cause problems for the opposition.

Trice checks in at 6-4 and 260 pounds, and he finished the season with 49 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 7.0 sacks. Those are the kind of numbers that will allow Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores to feel confident when he puts the rookie on the field.