A Vikings Trade Primer with the NFL’s Trade Deadline Fast Approaching
The NFL trade deadline is going to arrive on November 5th. If he wants to bring in talent via swap, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will need to do so by that date or forever hold his peace (or something like that).
Right now, the Vikings are rolling at 5-0, so there’s a danger in disrupting a good thing. The other side of the argument is that a GM can signal to his players that he believes in them by moving out an asset — a draft pick — for another weapon. Just think back to when T.J. Hockenson got added to the 13-4 Vikings; instantly, the offense was more dangerous. Does the GM have something similar up his sleeve in 2024?
A Vikings Trade Primer
The downside of a trade is that someone is going to get displaced.
Consider, for instance, a trade for an impact defensive tackle. Sounds good, right? Well, not if you’re Jonathan Bullard and/or Jerry Tillery. Adding someone could realistically make the defense better, at least in theory, while disrupting what is a cohesive team culture. It’s a factor to consider since coaches lead real humans, not just Xs and Os on a chalkboard.
Think back to the Hockenson example. The TE1 is a stud, a difference maker who can function as both a safe and a (relatively) explosive target for a QB. Bringing him into the mix, though, meant a diminished role for guys like Irv Smith Jr. and Johnny Mundt (in fairness, Smith Jr. battled injury).
Another roadblock is draft capital, or lack thereof.
An awful lot of draft picks got sunk into moving up to No. 17 in the 2024 NFL Draft. Getting to that position allowed for the Dallas Turner selection but it did drain the cupboards. Right now, Adofo-Mensah has just a single 1st to go alongside a pair of 5ths (read more). The expectation is that a 3rd is going to be added once the NFL’s compensatory wizards do their thing, but that’s an eventuality that hasn’t yet solidified into a reality.
A potential work around involves dipping into 2026 for some help. Potentially, Adofo-Mensah could add talent without even reducing the total amount of picks he owns. He could, for instance, send out a 5th in exchange for a player and a 6th or 7th.
Helping to facilitate a deal will be Minnesota’s cap space, sitting at roughly $11.2 million. Even more encouraging is that there’s $76 million (as of right now, at least) in open room for next year’s budget, meaning money could get kicked into the future if need be.
Since becoming the general manager, Adofo-Mensah has pulled off twenty-three trades. Notably, he only had a pair in the most recent draft and didn’t pull off a trade at the end of the preseason, perhaps signalling a shift toward a more conservative approach.
Minnesota’s next opponent will be the Detroit Lions, a team that the Vikings have traded with a pair of times in recent seasons.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap helped this piece.
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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, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
