The Vikings Price for Trading Up in the Draft

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As the Minnesota Vikings fanbase debates whether the team should identify and draft a quarterback in two weeks, the price to trade up won’t be cheap.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah owns the 23rd pick in Round 1, a true purgatory for drafting a franchise quarterback in this draft.

The Vikings Price for Trading Up in the Draft

Accordingly, he’d likely have to trade up on April 27th to select a contingency plan for life after Kirk Cousins, and these are the prices for applicable trades. Consider the packages as approximate.

Trade Up to No. 3

Vikings Price for
Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon speaks to the press at the Cardinals facility in Tempe on Feb. 22, 2023. © Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK.

The Team: Arizona Cardinals
The Target: Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, or Will Levis
The Price: the 23rd overall pick, 2023 3rd-Rounder. 2024 1st-Rounder, 2025 1st-Rounder
Get in Front of Who? Indianapolis Colts

Go figure — the most exciting possibility is also the most expensive.

Here, theoretically, the Vikings would negotiate upward to strike on C.J. Stroud (Ohio State) or Bryce Young (Alabama), assuming the Carolina Panthers do something shocking like selecting Anthony Richardson first overall. Richardson-to-Panthers has only been whispered in the shadows to date.

Most teams that would move all the way up to No. 3 have a juicier this-year pick to deal. For instance, if the Vikings were marinating at No. 12 or so — like last year — trading up to No. 3 wouldn’t be that much of a longshot.

And if this trade somehow went down, it would become one of the splashiest in Minnesota sports history, behind Herschel Walker and Rudy Gobert.

Trade Up to No. 10

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The Team: Philadelphia Eagles
The Target: Anthony Richardson or Will Levis
The Price: the 23rd overall pick, 2023 3rd-Rounder. 2024 1st-Rounder
Get in Front of Who? Tennessee Titans

Pivoting to realism, perhaps the Vikings front office and coaching staff utterly adores Richardson or Levis. Either could plunge to No. 10, and then Minnesota would have to get in front of Tennessee, a team winding down the Ryan Tannehill era and nothingness from Malik Willis.

This is the draft spot where the Kansas City Chiefs found Patrick Mahomes in 2017, and the trade package above exactly mirrors the Chiefs outgoing assets.

Trade Up to No. 18

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The Team: Detroit Lions
The Target: Anthony Richardson or Will Levis {Levis most likely]
The Price: the 23rd overall pick, 2023 3rd-Rounder
Get in Front of Who? Tampa Bay Buccaneers

While Minnesota might just let Richardson or Levis continue to fall if he tumbled this far, it could hedge the bet and hop in front of the Buccaneers, who are navigating life after Tom Brady. For now, they’re rolling with Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask at quarterback. Those two might work out; they could peter out.

Thankfully, the Vikings could grab this pick from Detroit — a team they’re not unfamiliar with via trade — for a 1st and 3rd-Rounder. It would be a steal of a deal if Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell love Richardson or Levis.


Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).

All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.

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