Insider claims NFC North team is 'wild card' for Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson’s long-term status with the Baltimore Ravens continues to be up in the air right now.

Although no NFL team has officially made any overtures to lure the former league MVP away from his current team, things are definitely happening behind the scenes.

This week, an intriguing new dark-horse candidate emerged for Jackson. It could prove to be a win-win for all sides involved.

During a recent appearance on ESPN’s "SportsCenter," NFL insider Jeremy Fowler pointed to the Minnesota Vikings as a “wild card” team to watch.

“Kirk Cousins has one year left on his contract if they want to reestablish their identity there,” he reported, via Bleacher Report's Adam Wells.

Although the Vikings are going to need a quarterback in a year, they also just restructured Cousins’ deal to clear $20 million in cap space. If they tried to go out and replace him with Jackson, it would cost the franchise nearly $50 million.

Could something happen here? Sure, anything is possible. But there is a reason Minnesota is being regarded as a dark-horse candidate and not a favorite.

At the moment, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the likeliest outcome here is Jackson remaining a member of the Ravens for at least one more season.

That seems to be the direction things are presently pointing in. Will that change at some point in the foreseeable future, though?

Will Jackson try to finagle a trade to a dark-horse candidate like the Vikings? One way or another, an answer should emerge over the next few weeks.