One Dumb Vikings Trade Theory Is Just Nonstop
Dustin Baker
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Despite all of the Minnesota Vikings leaders, down the line from the owners to the general manager to the head coach, stating for over a year that they want Justin Jefferson in Minnesota for the long haul, some outside voices cannot resist the temptation to claim the phenom playmaker will be traded.
One Dumb Vikings Trade Theory Is Just Nonstop
It’s like a running comedic gag sequence at this point, folks spitballing and warning of a Jefferson trade.
And it’s relentless.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio sponsored the latest round this week, saying on NBC Sports Radio, “The Vikings want, I believe, a franchise quarterback, and trading Justin Jefferson could be the key toward getting the return necessary to move up [in the draft] if that’s what they want to do.”
Jefferson is eligible for an extension anytime, as his fifth year with the franchise will be the upcoming season. Other members of Jefferson’s draft class (2020), like CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys and Tristan Wirfs from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are 1st-Rounders awaiting mammoth extensions, too. Sometimes in the NFL, ironing out the details of a long-term extension just takes time.
Yet, some refuse to believe that, totally ignoring Lamb and Wirfs while advancing theories like trading Jefferson instead. Of course, trading Jefferson is a roster-building option, but no Vikings leader has ever even remotely whispered that extension talks could break down.
In fact, at the 2023 NFL Combine, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said, “I don’t want to be the Vikings’ GM without that guy on our team,” referring to Jefferson’s eventual extension.
He added, “So it’s a high priority. We’ve got to make sure we do in the order that we can do it in, obviously, given all of our other decisions we have to make.”
Meanwhile, The Pioneer Press published a theory in January, arguing Minnesota should trade Jefferson to stockpile draft assets for the future. “There could be a better chance of Jefferson, 24, getting traded than anybody’s saying. That’s because it doesn’t make sense to pay the NFL’s best receiver the money he wants (expected to be at least $150 million over five years) on a team that’s not expected to be seriously competitive for several more years,” Pioneer Press’ Charley Walters opined.
Walters added, “The market for Jefferson would depend on where a team trading for him is picking in April’s draft. But it would be more than two first-round picks. Trading Jefferson for high draft picks would allow the Vikings to rebuild the way the Lions and Bears have done the last two years, from the ground up.”
Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd endorsed the idea a couple of weeks ago. So did former NFLer Kyle Long. Bleacher Report also chimed in on the trade-Jefferson train.
Each day that passes without a Jefferson extension, a new voice seems to pop up and claim a trade is afoot. And it just doesn’t make any sense for Minnesota, a franchise that said in January that it is winding down the “rebuild” part of its competitive rebuild strategy, to trade its best player.
The eventual extension is the only item that will make the farcical theories end.
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.
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