Minnesota Vikings Trade for New York Giants Center Brett Jones

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Aug 26, 2018
Photo by Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Vikings on Sunday traded a 2019 seventh-round draft pick for center Brett Jones. Jones, 27, was acquired from the New York Giants.

Jones, who’s listed at 6-foot-2, 312 pounds, started 13 games for the Giants last season. Since signing as a free agent by the Giants in 2015, he’s played in 30 regular NFL games, starting 12 times at center and twice at left guard.

CFL standout

After going undrafted in the 2013 NFL draft, Jones was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He was a standout in the CFL and was named the league’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 2014. Jones is a native of Weyburn, Canada.

Pro Football Focus ranked Jones as the number 15 center last year. He earned a 68.6 grade overall with a 82.1 pass blocking rating and a 60.1 grade in run blocking. His pass blocking grade was fifth best among NFL centers.

Earlier in the day head coach Mike Zimmer told reporters that center Pat Elflein was not expected to practice this week, but he did not expect Elflein to start the season on the PUP list. With Elflein’s status unclear, this moves gives the Vikings another option if Cornelius Edison is not their preferred play.

The trade is pending a physical.

UPDATE

Terms of the trade were confirmed by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network.