TRADE: Vikings Main Competition in NFC Gets Stronger
Josh Frey
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Well, it seems the Philadelphia Eagles aren’t content with starting the season 6-0 as the Vikings main competition in the NFC gets stronger ahead of the NFL trade deadline. The Eagles completed a trade with one of Minnesota’s NFC North rivals, the Chicago Bears, to acquire star pass-rusher Robert Quinn.
Quinn has been part of trade rumors for much of 2022 with Chicago cutting ties with much of its once-ferocious defense, and those only amplified when he missed mini-camp and then requested a trade this preseason.
While Quinn stayed onboard into the regular season, he gets out of Chicago and joins one of the major Super Bowl contenders this season. For the 32-year-old EDGE, the Bears got a fourth-round pick in the 2023 Draft, but they will continue to pay much of the $17.1 million cap hit.
2022 has been a bit of a slow year for Quinn, but that is to be somewhat expected given how the Bears tore down their defense over the past couple years. Even still, he is coming off one of the best years of career in 2021 when he racked up 18.5 sacks and was named a member of AP’s Second-Team All-Pro team.
For his career, Quinn has recorded five seasons with 10+ sacks and has 102 over the course of his 12-year career. That puts him 35th on the all-time list and sixth among active players, tied with Aaron Donald. Quinn has played 10 games against the Minnesota Vikings, recording 5.5 sacks in those games.
Now in Philadelphia, Quinn joins a defensive front highlighted by Fletcher Cox, rookie Jordan Davis, Hassan Reddick, and Josh Sweat. A unit that has hovered around the No. 10 spot in sacks should take a massive leap following this trade.
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The Minnesota Vikings will not see Quinn for the rest of the regular season, but if things play out in the playoffs the way that they stand right now, there’s a very good chance that Minnesota could run into their familiar foe sometime in the playoffs, potentially in the NFC Championship Game.
This move by Philadelphia puts the onus on Minnesota to make a move to match, whether it be on the defensive side of the ball or adding a receiver. We’ll see if Kwesi Adofo-Mensah counters before the November 1st deadline.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.