The Vikings quarterback situation is one of the biggest storylines this offseason with Minnesota holding three quarterbacks who are set to be free agents in Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford. It was widely believed Minnesota would do something to keep Keenum, who broke out in a big way last year, around. 

But it appears, according to a report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Vikings will not be using the franchise tag on the quarterback.

This is a little surprising, because it leaves the Vikings vulnerable at the quarterback position. On the other hand, it's possible Minnesota believes it is in the catbird's seat when it comes to the Kirk Cousins sweepstakes. Certainly they are one of the top teams interested in pursuing the soon-to-be free agent quarterback.

And if they believe they are likely to land Cousins, or even have a good shot at landing Cousins, they can't very well use a tag on Keenum. It would not only send the wrong signal to Cousins, but it would put Keenum in a bad spot and it would create a situation where Keenum's tag number ate up the salary cap space designed to sign Cousins.

So it's a weird game of chicken the Vikings will be playing, with them ultimately deciding they can make another run at Keenum and try to bring him back in the event that they lose out to someone else in the Cousins sweepstakes. 

Their primary competition? It's going to be the Jets and the Broncos off the top. The Cardinals apparently know they cannot compete with the big-spending teams in free agency. 

New York is willing to pay "whatever it takes" to get Cousins, according to one report. But they don't have one thing Minnesota does: a Super Bowl-caliber defense and skill-position weapons to really make a run.

It's not hard, if you're Minnesota, to argue you could have won the Super Bowl last year and the addition of Cousins puts you over the top. When you combine that with a large amount of cold, hard cash, it becomes a very nice selling point in free agency.