Pouring Gasoline Onto the Fire: Draft Expert Identifies a Top-3 Team with a Decent Chance to Trade Down
K. Joudry
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Jordan Reid, an ESPN draft expert, is good at his job, so his opinion carries some weight.
Reid’s recent speculation may have caused a few people in Minnesota to perk up. Take a look at what ESPN’s draft analyst had to say: “I’m still not sold on the Patriots picking at #3 overall. That roster is far away.” Reid’s tweet comes in response to a question about an opening-round trade, so the suggestion is that New England could sell No. 3 to the highest bidder. Presumably, that team — the Vikings, perhaps — would be covetous of one of this year’s top-tier QBs.
ESPN Draft Expert Identifies a Top-3 Team for a Trade Down
Speculating about a move to No. 3 is nothing new in Vikings Land.
Not too long ago, Josh Frey did precisely that in a piece on PurplePTSD. “If the Vikings were to make a trade up the board, the assumption should be that they are doing so in an attempt to land their QB of the future,” Frey argues. “Minnesota has reportedly been open to making such a move, but it would likely come at a massive cost in terms of draft compensation.” In his analysis, Frey points to New England as a team to monitor for a trade up.
Not to be outdone, Dustin Baker ventures into a similar idea on Vikings Territory. Baker’s thinking is that the Patriots at No. 3 makes sense because New England has a roster that’s aching for help at a pile of different spots: “New England has a litany of roster holes, and with new leadership — Bill Belichick left after a quarter century in January — the Patriots could begin team-building through the draft.”
Baker continues: “New head coach Jerod Mayo currently holds the third overall pick in the draft, and if the Vikings inquire, the spot could be prime territory to draft North Carolina’s Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels from LSU.”
Frey’s and Baker’s thoughts have merit; seeing Reid jump into the speculation makes the purple dot connecting even more plausible.
What’s similarly notable is that Reid goes on to connect a young QB to Minnesota: “If they re-sign Cousins or bring in a veteran, [J.J.] McCarthy fits very well in KOC’s offense.”
Now, keep something in mind: Reid did not send out a tweet saying the Patriots may be interested in trading down while then suggesting the Vikings will be moving into that slot for McCarthy. Instead, he merely offered a pair of independent thoughts that could, in theory, coalesce on draft night: the Patriots trade down and a Vikings trade up for a QB of their choosing. McCarthy could be that player, but aggressively moving up the board is more likely to mean Maye or Daniels.
The 2024 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 25th and will conclude on Saturday, April 27th. Right now, the Vikings are sitting on nine selections, but a move to catapult themselves into the top 3 will mean sacrificing quantity in the name of quality.
Notably, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has made nine trades in his pair of drafts as the Vikings’ GM.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.