Categories: 1.2 Analysis
| On 7 months ago

Vikings Trade Cost Is Getting Truly Outrageous

By Dustin Baker

There are no limits.

Vikings Trade Cost Is Getting Truly Outrageous

Not long ago, Minnesota Vikings fans wrestled with sending three 1st-Rounders to a team like the New England Patriots in a trade that would enable the purple team to draft a quarterback of the future.

Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports.

Now, however, with six days before the 2024 NFL Draft, the would-be price, with the Patriots especially, has climbed to godforsaken and unfathomable levels, according to NBC Sports‘ Tom Curran, who covers New England.

The asking price may allegedly approach five 1st-Rounders, an unholy sum that would almost certainly disqualify any team from executing a trade with Eliot Wolf and Co. “It’s more than three 1st-Rounders. It’s four and upwards of five. The Patriots are very much entrenched,” Curran said on NBC Sports Boston‘s YouTube channel.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports.

Minnesota’s target in a hypothetical trade would likely be North Carolina’s Drake Maye or LSU’s Jayden Daniels, though Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy cannot be ruled out.

Curran added, “I mean, I’m just spitballing here, but they want a massive amount. You ask me what it will be. I don’t know. But I don’t think they’re going to see it for merely three. Exceed three, and maybe you can be in the conversation. Four? Will that get it done? Well, how far down the road is that next one coming?”

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports.

So, it’s almost like a game — or price gouging. The working theory suggests that if the trade partner is willing to pay three 1st-Rounders, well, why not four? And after that, if four can be swallowed, let’s raise it to five.

Thankfully, for Vikings fans’ sanity, no general manager anywhere will likely surrender five 1st-Round anything, outside of a not-happening deal for Patrick Mahomes, for example. But Curran’s price bonanza exemplifies how the draft-hype machine has no limits. Asking prices need not be clamped with the draft around the bend.

Meanwhile, Wolf personally said Thursday, “We’re open to anything. Moving up, moving down. We’re open for business in the first round and every round.” Of course, that commentary is more reasonable because it doesn’t demand five 1st-Round picks and makes a theoretical trade sound doable.

Image Courtesy of Cody Lauer | The 2023 NFL Draft in Kansas City, Missouri. The Vikings drafted six players during the event, from WR Jordan Addison to RB DeWayne McBride

Earlier this week, Adam Schefter said about Drake Maye and the Vikings, “It all depends on the team you talk to. It all depends on the team’s interest. If Minnesota were to find a way to get up to three, my sense is, and we don’t know fully, but my sense is that Drake Maye would be the preference.”

The price will be gaudy — no matter what. Some consider the three 1st-Rounders to the Patriots for Maye as the starting point of negotiations. After that, an extra deal sweetener may be required, and it boils down to whether Minnesota is willing to pay the price.

Otherwise, J.J. McCarthy is the oddsmakers’ darling to end up with the Vikings, possessing a +125 moneyline as of April 20th.

But any poppycock about five 1st-Rounders is just the draft machine utterly gone off the rails.


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,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).

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

Dustin Baker

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,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).

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