The Vikings arrive at the week before the 2023 NFL draft in the market for a quarterback, but not in immediate need of one. That's a markedly different position from the past two times they selected a QB in the first round.

In 2011, they entered the draft in open pursuit of a quarterback following the 2010 collapse that ended with Brett Favre's final retirement. Rick Spielman, then the team's vice president for player personnel, used the 12th overall pick on Christian Ponder to be the team's long-term quarterback. Ponder lost his starting job in 2013, and coach Leslie Frazier was out of a job after the season.

It put the Vikings in the market for another quarterback in 2014, and after selecting Anthony Barr ninth overall, Spielman traded back into the first round to draft Teddy Bridgewater with the 32nd pick. The team expected he would be with coach Mike Zimmer for much of his career. Zimmer loved Bridgewater, and Matt Cassel's broken foot made Bridgewater the starter midway through Week 3 of his rookie season. But after Bridgewater led the Vikings to an NFC North title in 2015, the catastrophic knee injury he suffered the following preseason meant the Vikings got neither the full benefit of starting a QB on his rookie contract nor the long-term competitiveness that comes from a transformational passer.

They're in the market for both of those things in 2023, the second draft with General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell. The Vikings have done extensive work on this year's quarterback class, and while they have a number of areas they could address in the first round, it's believed they'd take a QB in the first round if the right one is available.

Their approach in 2023, though, differs from 2011 and 2014 in one important respect: Because of the stability Kirk Cousins has lent to the position, the Vikings won't take a quarterback just because they have to.

Cousins, who enters his sixth season with the Vikings, would pass Daunte Culpepper for the third-most QB starts in franchise history with two starts this fall. He hasn't missed a game because of injury since he became a full-time starter in 2015. He led the league with eight fourth-quarter comebacks last season on the way to his fourth Pro Bowl, and his second season with O'Connell would mark the first time he's had the same play-caller in consecutive seasons since Sean McVay in Washington in 2015-16.

While the Vikings and the 34-year-old Cousins were unable to come to terms on a new deal this spring, it's not impossible the team could work out a new contract with him before he becomes a free agent in March, especially if he has a strong second season in O'Connell's offense. Whether Cousins' presence gives the Vikings time to develop a young passer, or wait for the right moment to select one, he gives them the luxury of being picky with their process.

"Ideally you would love to have that person in that role developing behind a great player like Kirk, but I don't think you ever sacrifice it being the right player," O'Connell said at the Vikings' pre-draft news conference on April 13. "And regardless of the when, the where, the why, the how, you have to have ultra belief and connection on making that decision because it is such an important decision."

But O'Connell was quick to add that he's excited about what Cousins can do in Year 2 in this system.

"It's been a while since Kirk's been able to say that he gets to come back in the same system he ran previously with the same play caller," O'Connell said. "We've had a lot of great dialogue with him, about ways we're going to look to fine-tune what we did and grow and improve. So that'll be a big part of 2023 for me, not only as the head coach, but the play-caller."

If the Vikings pick a QB in the first round on Thursday night, it will likely be because they think they have a franchise cornerstone. They met with Anthony Richardson at the combine, before both O'Connell and Adofo-Mensah watched the Florida quarterback's eye-popping workout. Even with their other needs, they don't seem inclined to wait if an opportunity to draft the right quarterback presents itself now.

If they trade back from No. 23 overall, they could move out of the first round and ask for a 2024 first-rounder as part of the deal, on the chance the choice becomes a top-10 pick they can spend on a passer like USC's Caleb Williams or North Carolina's Drake Maye in 2024. Cousins, or another veteran QB, could buy them the freedom to develop a young player before making him the starter.

They reportedly talked to the 49ers at the combine about Trey Lance, though it's unclear how they feel about the former first-round pick and native Minnesotan. The Vikings have since added void years to Cousins' contract that would make him difficult to trade before June 1.

Whenever the Vikings do draft a first-round quarterback, for just the third time in the 21st century, it seems clear the current regime won't take one just to take one. Even if Cousins has yet to take the Vikings on a deep playoff run, his productivity grants them an advantage they seem inclined to use.

Which likely means the Vikings' next first-round quarterback won't arrive without some serious conviction about what he could do.