Trades, Trades, Trades: Conflicting Reports Swarm About Vikings
Dustin Baker
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In one corner for the Minnesota Vikings — it’s the theory that general manager Rick Spielman will trade down from his 14th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, a usual draft tactic for the 58-year-old.
The other corner hosts the trade-up camp. The Vikings essentially never trade their top draft asset in favor of a higher rung on the ladder. However, this is formally draft week, and rumors from all sides rum rampant.
The most stimulating option is to trade up because of the infrequency by which this occurs in Minnesota. The trade-up theory was kickstarted on Monday morning with a Tom Pelissero video.
Several teams have been making calls about getting into the top 10 of next week’s NFL Draft — including the #Patriots, who could have their eyes on Ohio State QB Justin Fields if he begins to slide. @gmfb @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/GjJazJXZQp
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 26, 2021
Chatting with a former Viking, Nate Burleson, Pelissero roped Minnesota in with teams that are “making the call” to the draft’s Top 10 pecking order. And the working theory is that this would be in the interest of selecting a left tackle. The Vikings own a dilated hole on the LT spot of the depth chart after Riley Reiff signed with the Cincinnati Bengals in March. The current roster alternatives for men capable of playing left tackle are Rashod Hill and Ezra Cleveland. Should the Viking select no startable tackles in the draft this week[end], it’s probably Cleveland who moves back to his biological position from college — left tackle. Head coach Mike Zimmer plugged Cleveland at right guard for all of his 2020 offensive snaps.
But per Paul Allen of KFAN, the Vikings would be plucking a tackle out of the Top 10 if Spielman swerves and trades up.
.@PAOnTheMic on KFAN said a #Vikings trade up would likely be for tackle Rashawn Slater https://t.co/hWycfGaZn3
— Sean Borman (@SeanBormanNFL) April 26, 2021
This hypothesis adds up because the Vikings have not employed a longstanding left tackle since the days of Bryant McKinnie — or 2002 to 2011. That’s a long time.
Therefore, keep an eye on the draft circumstances for Penei Sewell of Oregon and Rashawn Slater of Northwestern. Both tackles could encounter “slides” on draft night, and both men are considered startable in Week 1 of 2021.
Worth mentioning: If Minnesota trades up and a quarterback like Justin Fields is still available, much of the Vikings social media community will riot if he is not the choice.
Otherwise on trades, it’s the trade-down fodder that bends in the rumor mill wind. Vikings loyalists know all about this tendency. Spielman likes to stockpile draft picks on Days 2 and 3 of the draft, but he is also not immune to trading back in the 1st Round. This transpired in the 1st Rounds of drafts in 2012, 2014, and 2020.
Trading back would give the Vikings flexibility to hop back into the 2nd Round. Spielman has zero 2nd-Round picks this week [for the moment] because he sent his pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Yannick Ngakoue last summer. Too, Spielman’s track record since taking the GM “big job” in 2012 is flawless. From 2012 to present, Spielman has never chosen a “bad” 2nd-Round prospect. It’s the inverse, in fact — that’s the round where he has discovered Eric Kendricks, Dalvin Cook, and Brian O’Neill.
Peter King of NBCSports.com confirmed the Vikings 2021 fondness for trading back in his one-and-only mock draft of the season:
“I believe I lead the Vikings’ chunk of my mock annually with this sentence: GM Rick Spielman really wants to trade down. Nothing new this year. Maybe he’ll find an aggressive taker if one of the receivers is still on the board. I had Jaelan Phillips here until making the switch Sunday mid-day. Lots of times, in mock-scienceville, you’re influenced by the last voice you hear. So I had Phillips until the last three people I texted with Sunday told me the need is too great on the Minnesota offensive line, and Vera-Tucker the person and prospect just too solid, and Phillips the person and prospect a little risky, and so I hit the delete button. Vera-Tucker, with 13 starts at guard and six at tackle, and was voted the top offensive lineman in the conference by his foes last year. Seems a very safe pick.”
Incidentally, King’s mock draft contained no trades [at all] and the Vikings selected offensive lineman, Alijah Vera-Tucker from USC, to fortify the shaky offensive trenches.