The 2 Sweet Spots for Vikings Draft Trades
Janik Eckardt
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When the draft kicks off, second-year Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will be under pressure. It is now his second draft in charge and fans and the organization expect positive results. It won’t be easy to fulfill everyone’s wishes, especially because he has only five picks and is without his second-round selection.
However, the team has many holes and positions to address. A new franchise quarterback has to enter the building in the next 12 months, someone must replace Adam Thielen, the cornerback group is unproven and the defensive line lacks talent.
The 2 Sweet Spots for Vikings Draft Trades
All of that could give Adofo-Mensah the motivation to look for a trade partner and there might be some interesting candidates. Both ways, moving up and moving down, are possible.
Kansas City Chiefs
Picks 31 and 63 for 23 and 119
After winning the Super Bowl, Kansas City has the 31st overall pick, the last one in the first round because the Dolphins had to forfeit their selection. The Chiefs are an excellent team, that’s why they won the Super Bowl.
Last year, Kansas City invested their two first-round picks, one of them was acquired by trading away Tyreek Hill, in two defenders. Both George Karlaftis and Trent McDuffie were reinforcements for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and had a role in their Super Bowl run.
This year, the Chiefs could target the offense. They lost wideouts JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman in free agency. Patrick Mahomes has proven that he doesn’t need superstar receivers on the outside but the team has to plan ahead and having more weapons is never a bad thing. Tight end Travis Kelce will turn 34 years old during the upcoming season and won’t play forever. The other weapons on the roster are underwhelming.
For that reason, the Chiefs could be in the market for a new WR, Zay Flowers from Boston College has been linked to them. He is a quick receiver, someone of the style of Kadarius Toney who they already have on the team.
Another player to target could be one of the top two tight ends to directly replace Kelce in the future and first play with him for a couple of years. Both Michael Mayer and Dalton Kincaid are expected to end up flying off the board at some point in the first round.
The 23rd overall pick, held by the Vikings, is a perfect spot to pick either one of them. Minnesota would get the 31st pick in return, in addition to the second-rounder, pick 63. Adofo-Mensah probably has to give something back, the fourth-round selection would be fair compensation according to the trade charts.
That would give the Vikings pick number 31, which might be a hot commodity for another trade into the second round to secure even more draft capital. Paired with the additional second-rounder, the team would have three picks in the top 90 instead of only two and could draft an extra Week 1 contributor on one of the many roster holes. Adofo-Mensah had the same strategy last year.
Philadelphia Eagles
Pick 10 for 23, 87, and 2024 first-rounder
Unlike the other trade, this time the Vikings want to move up the board. Of course, that move would be for a quarterback if one slides down to that spot. All four of Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and Will Levis might end up off the board at that point, but the draft is unpredictable and one of them could fall. In the week leading up to the draft, Stroud and Richardson are the two potential falling players according to a few rumors.
Minnesota would move up to grab the guy they have identified as their next franchise quarterback. The costs are almost similar to the compensation the Chiefs had to give up for Patrick Mahomes.
It is a hefty price but who cares about the compensation if the drafted QB is actually good? Nobody will. And if he’s not, the team will stumble into a rebuild but that is necessary anyway without a QB and an aging roster. That’s why the team should go all-in to find their own superstar quarterback. Richardson has absurd potential with his outstanding physical tools, he would be the most exciting selection, while Stroud is viewed as a sure thing. Most expect him to be good.
Trading up to the 10th overall pick is the sweet spot because it’s right before the Titans pick who might be in the market for a QB because Malik Willis, last year’s draft pick, isn’t working out. In addition to that, it would not be necessary to add a third first-round selection into the mix if the team wanted to trade up even higher which makes this trade for the 10th pick more reasonable.
The Eagles would agree to that deal to simply collect more resources, something they will need in the next few years to bring in reinforcements to keep the team at the top of the NFC.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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