Once-Promising Vikings Defender Traded Away
On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings traded backup quarterback Sam Howell to the Philadelphia Eagles and hired Carson Wentz to take his spot. It was one of many Kwesi Adofo-Mensah trades, a GM who loves to strike deals with other executives. Just a day later, he once again pulled one off.
Once-Promising Vikings Defender Traded Away
This time, it was one of his own draft picks. Mekhi Blackmon, the former third-rounder, who was stuck on the depth chart throughout the summer, will play for the Indianapolis Colts in the upcoming season.
Tom Pelissero broke the news, “Trade! The #Vikings are sending DB Mekhi Blackmon to the #Colts for a 2026 sixth-round pick, per sources.”
Blackmon was the final pick of the third round in the 2023 draft class. He had a promising rookie season, but a torn ACL suffered in training camp cost him the entire 2024 campaign and derailed his development. This summer, folks hoped he could snatch that starting job from Jeff Okudah, but that didn’t work out.
Si.com’s Will Ragatz wrote about Blackmon’s summer, “Throughout this year’s Vikings training camp, Blackmon almost exclusively worked with the second-team defense. He was always behind newcomers Isaiah Rodgers and Jeff Okudah, and it felt like he was closer to falling behind young players like Dwight McGlothern and Zemaiah Vaughn than he was to pushing for first-team reps. Blackmon’s preseason also went rather poorly.”
Perhaps his injury recovery still impacted him, but Blackmon wasn’t particularly sharp in the preseason either.
Ragatz noted on social media, “Out of 23 Vikings defenders who played at least 30 snaps in the preseason, Mekhi Blackmon was 23rd in PFF grade at 47.4. That’s never a definitive metric, but it hasn’t been a super encouraging offseason for the 2023 3rd-rounder coming off an ACL. CB depth is a big question.”
Indeed, depth is a big question, and parting with parts of that depth doesn’t change that. Behind the three starters, Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers, and Okudah, the Vikings have undrafted rookie Vaughn, inexperienced sophomore Dwight McGlothern, and Ambry Thomas, who brings some experience to the table, but hasn’t gotten much buzz in camp.
Just 14 months ago, Blackmon was expected to be part of a three-man corner rotation with Murphy Jr. and Shaq Griffin. In his rookie season, he played in 15 games and certainly looked promising outside of reps against tall (and good) receivers like Tee Higgins and Courtland Sutton.
The defender posted a solid debut season, playing north of 400 defensive snaps, mostly as an outside cornerback. He was targeted 44 times and allowed 28 catches for 285 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Blackmon also logged eight pass breakups and, when targeted, gave up a passer rating of 87.8. Just for comparison, that’s exactly the rating his college teammate Caleb Williams had in his rookie season a year later.
The Colts bet that he can return to that level of play, while the Vikings throw the towel on another draft choice.
Considering Minnesota’s cornerbacks on the roster, there almost certainly has to be another move in the works. A veteran backup (or even someone to compete with Okudah) would ease some of the concerns about the group.
Blackmon is 26 years old. He’ll now join Daniel Jones and Cam Bynum in Indianapolis.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.