Report: The Vikings tried to trade to pick 14
Going into the 2020 NFL Draft, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said that he and the Vikings would be “as aggressive as possible” in the draft thanks to the then 12 picks. That means that it was a bit strange that the Vikings were the opposite of aggressive, or passive, by trading down multiple times in the draft. That wasn’t completely by design, though, as its been reported by many outlets that the Vikings attempted to be very aggressive in the first round by trading from pick 22 to pick 14 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That drop to 22 was too far a drop for the Bucs (who ended up trading UP to select offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs of Iowa). You can see an amazing interview with Tristan Wirfs from a show that we’re very pleased to be partnered with both on VikingsTerritory.com and our new Minnesota sports podcast site, purpleTERRITORYradio.com. That show is ‘Odds and Ends with Mike Tice’
The question then, becomes, who were the Vikings targeting at 14?
Every receiver (except Henry Ruggs, who was drafted by the Raiders). Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy was available at 14 and was taken with the 15th pick, so it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the Vikings were trying to snag Jeudy before the Denver Broncos were able to. Depending on what it would’ve taken to move to 14. I wrote an article a week or so ago over on our sister-site, purplePTSD.com about the amount of points each draft pick in the first round is worth and thus what it might take to move from one to the next.
The 14th pick in the draft is worth 1,050 points, whereas the 22nd pick is worth 780 points and the 25th pick is worth 720 points. That means the Vikings the would’ve had to trade their 22 or 25 and and second-round pick to move up for Jeudy.
Our draft experts Kirby O’Connor and Deshawn Vaughn mentioned on the first show of the NEW ‘About the Labor’ that they wouldn’t have liked that move, but if you’re comparing Justin Jefferson (who if you read my article about his fit on the Vikings offense, you won’t be surprised I didn’t like for this team) to Jeudy and their fit on the Vikings (again), a year or two down the road we might not necessarily miss that second-round pick (even though they did take Ezra Cleveland with that pick).
Then again, they could’ve traded a couple thirds instead, kept Ezra and ended up with Jeudy over Jefferson. Jeudy is the multidimensional type receiver that this team lost when they traded Stefon Diggs to Buffalo. At least if you believe his Draft Profile on NFL.com.
https://www.nfl.com/prospects/jerry-jeudy?id=32194a45-5541-5291-9f8b-8595dc100c90