The only option from there would be to select a quarterback with the No. 23 overall pick, acquired in a trade with the Houston Texans, or ride with Darnold as the starter for the 2024 season.

Even if the Vikings selected a lower-tier but fringe first-round quarterback like Michael Penix or Bo Nix with the 23rd pick, they’ll have a much harder case to make in becoming Day 1 starters behind Darnold given their draft status.

The Vikings traded their 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick to land the Texans’ first-rounder. They have no second- or third-round picks in the draft.

While the benefits of a quarterback on a rookie-scale contract are well-documented, the Vikings want to land their quarterback of the next decade — not just five years.

Star Tribune reporter Ben Goessling entertained the notion of the Vikings selecting a blue-chip prospect back in December before they acquired another first-round pick that is a telltale sign they have, at the very least, ambitions of trading up — if not a plan already in place.

“They were thinking about Caleb Williams and Drake Maye even at this point last year. There’s been a lot of work done in this building through the course of the fall on these rookie QBs,” Goessling said on a December 28 episode of the Star Tribune’s “Access Vikings. “If they were to say, ‘We have to be in the top five to get one of these guys, or the top two or three to get one of these guys, I don’t think they’re going to let that hold them back.

“I really think, based on the way they operated last year and the things I’ve heard,  if they see there is an opportunity to get the guy of the next 20 years, they are not going to let something stop them from doing it,” Goessling added.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah put truth to Goessling’s words, revealing that there is a “preferred plan” with the additional first-rounder but the move ultimately gives them “flexibility.”