At Trade Deadline, You Should Hope Vikings Remain Quiet

Rick Spielman
Harrison Barden-USA TODAY Sports.

In almost any sport, a trade deadline is exciting, jam-packed with the “what if” for a franchise in possibly acquiring new players.

This can certainly apply to the Minnesota Vikings, too, but they’re best served simply staying put at the 2021 trade deadline.

Why? Because the Vikings don’t conduct intelligent trades in or very near the regular season. There’s a paper trail of evidence to support this.

Contrarily, Minnesota trades not near the regular season turn out quite well. When general manager Rick Spielman traded Stefon Diggs in 2020 – everyone panicked. But that was all for nil. Spielman landed Justin Jefferson, who produces at a similar level to Diggs, even as a rookie and second-year wide receiver. And Jefferson’s first two seasons far exceed the production of Diggs in his first two seasons of 2015 and 2016.

That’s just one example. Spielman, for the most part, is championed for his in-draft trade wizardry (yes, that means sometimes stockpiling late-round picks). Yet, the other trades are unnerving.

Too many examples exist to cause Vikings fans’ trade anxiety. The decent in-season or near-season trades are scarce. In 2015, Spielman grabbed Nick Easton from the San Francisco 49ers for Gerald Hodges. Not bad. In 2018, he acquired Brett Jones from the New York Giants for a 7th-Round pick. That wasn’t terrible.

The other transactions are grimy. When Teddy Bridgewater was injured on the cusp of the 2016 season’s commencement, the Vikings sent a 1st-Rounder to the Philadelphia Eagles for quarterback Sam Bradford. It’s the thought that counts – only matters so much here. Bradford – who performed well when healthy – was done playing football about 13 months later, signifying a total waste of a valuable 1st-Round pick for Minnesota. The intention was not bad – not one iota – but the result was underwhelming.

More recently, in 2019, Spielman sent a 5th-Rounder to Baltimore for a kicker-punter named Kaare Vedvick. He stunk. Vedivck exited stage left about three weeks later, released by the team after a flimsy preseason showing.

Late in the summer of 2020, Spielman infamously acquired Yannick Ngakoue from the Jacksonville Jaguars, who was supposed to formulate a violent, quarterback-sacking duo with Danielle Hunter. Instead, Hunter didn’t play a drop of football in 2020, while Ngakoue was traded seven weeks later. That was a waste of a 2nd-Round pick (but the Vikings did claw back a 3rd Rounder from the Ravens). Losing a 2nd-Round commodity is amplified for the Vikings because Spielman typically thrives in that round – see: Dalvin Cook, Eric Kenrics, Brian O’Neill, and Irv Smith Jr.

The Ngakoue gaffe was the latest edition in Vikings fans’ trade memories – until September 1, 2021. The aforementioned Smith Jr. was lost for the season to injury, so Spielman figured he needed a new tight end. He found one – for a 4th-Round price tag. Herndon arrived in Minnesota from the New York Jets. The verdict is still out on the ex-Jet, but he is not featured prominently in the Vikings offense through six games. In all likelihood, the 4th-Round payment will probably end up too steep.

This is not an indictment of Spielman. He’s wonderful in many aspects of general management. However, in-season and near-season trades are the outlier. The decisions feel kneejerk and incongruent with his normative way of doing business.

So, if history is a reasonable indicator, a trade by the Vikings before the November 2nd deadline would likely be eyebrow-raising. And not in a good way.

The Vikings could use a little help at the cornerback position with Patrick Peterson’s three-games-out prognosis. Perhaps they should allot more playing time to Cameron Dantzler or Harrison Hand instead of a trade.

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).

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