The Door Could Be Opening for the Vikings to Make a Big Trade up the Draft Board
The Minnesota Vikings currently hold the 11th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
However, there have been some rumblings that Minnesota could look to swing a trade and move up the board in April and take a quarterback. Kirk Cousins is set to enter free agency and turns 36 years old in August after suffering a torn Achilles in Week 8 of this past season.
The question is, which team would Minnesota trade with, and would the quarterback prospect that they want even be available? The first three selections in the draft are held by the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders, and New England Patriots. All of these teams could be in the market for a quarterback this spring.
The Door Could Be Opening for the Vikings to Make a Big Trade
If the Vikings were to look to make a move up the board, it appears that the trade partner could be the New England Patriots. Dan Graziano of ESPN laid out what he’s been hearing throughout Super Bowl week in regard to this sort of trade:
Sure, there has been a lot of talk about what will happen with the first and second picks of the 2024 draft, what the Bears and Commanders will do and where all the quarterbacks will end up. But I’m hearing a bit of buzz about the third pick, which belongs to the New England Patriots. The Patriots also need a quarterback, but there are people around the league who believe they are open to trading the No. 3 selection, moving back in the draft and addressing the quarterback position in free agency.
And on the short list of teams that could be that trade partner for New England is, of course, the Minnesota Vikings.
If the Pats do trade that pick — which could be Daniels or Maye — the two teams I’d keep an eye on are the Falcons (moving from the No. 8 spot) and the Vikings (moving from the No. 11 spot, assuming they don’t bring back Cousins). Minnesota knows it eventually has to address the quarterback position long term, and the notion of bringing in Daniels to pair with their star LSU alum wideout Justin Jefferson has appeal to some in the organization.
A trade of this sort could make sense for New England. Of course, they likely want to have a quarterback that isn’t named Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe leading the way next season, but they also have a multitude of other needs on offense if they have any hopes of contending in the AFC East.
In fact, they could be in the running to sign Cousins if the Vikings were to move on from him and trade up for a QB. New England currently has the third-most cap space in the league, per Over the Cap, sitting at just over $66 million. They could even free up an addition $14.375 million by moving on from CB J.C. Jackson, who has played just 15 games over the past two seasons.
Minnesota would certainly have to give up a lot in order to acquire this third overall pick, though. Back in 2021, the San Francisco 49ers traded from No. 12 overall to No. 3, and it cost them three first-round picks in order to do so. That trade landed them Trey Lance, which didn’t work out. It’s always a risk to trade large amounts of capital for a prospect.
If the Vikings were to make this sort of trade, they’d likely have the opportunity to land one of Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, or J.J. McCarthy.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.