In December, Joe Burrow wouldn’t rule out playing elsewhere.

A top NFC team will reportedly go hard after Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow if he becomes available in a trade.

Burrow hasn’t outright requested a trade from the Bengals. But the No. 1 pick of the 2020 NFL Draft made headlines in December when he was asked about potentially playing on another team in the future.

Joe Burrow told a reporter, “You think about a lot of things.” It’s obviously not the commitment Bengals fans wanted to hear. But it’s also easy to understand why Burrow might consider requesting a trade, seeing how they’ve wasted three of his valuable prime years.

And now, a new report indicates that the Minnesota Vikings could pursue a blockbuster trade for Burrow. That is, if the Bengals decide to field offers.

On the latest edition of his show, Vikings beat reporter Alec Lewis of The Athletic reported that Minnesota will “do everything they possibly can to” land Joe Burrow if he becomes available:

“If a player like Joe Burrow is available via trade, I expect the Vikings to do everything they possibly can to make that happen. It’s more a question of what is available…and how far from a cost perspective is it gonna take.”

The Vikings are coming off a disappointing 9-8 season. JJ McCarthy’s first year as their starting QB was marred by injuries and inconsistent production. In fact, it was recently reported that the Vikings nearly traded McCarthy to the Las Vegas Raiders last offseason.

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Joe Burrow Would Make Vikings The Team To Beat In The NFC

Joe Burrow (Sam Greene/The Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
It’s highly unlikely that the 29-year-old Burrow will acutally request a trade from the Bengals this offseason. It feels a lot more likely to happen, though, if they have another disappointing season in 2026.

If he went to the Vikings? Minnesota would be the team to beat in a difficult NFC. They won 14 games a year ago with journeyman Sam Darnold. They still went 9-8 this year with terrible quarterback production.

Add a top-five quarterback in the game to that offense? There’s no telling how dangerous that offense would be with Burrow, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hockenson, Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. Throw in a top-10 defense, and you’d have the makings of a bonafie super Bowl contender.