4 Vikings Who Could Be Traded This Summer
The Minnesota Vikings’ summer really heats up in one week when training camp gets underway at TCO Performance Center.
The franchise doesn’t have many draft assets next year after trading a mini-version of the farm for the draft pick that landed Dallas Turner in April.
4 Vikings Who Could Be Traded This Summer
So, if general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah trades any players this summer, these are the four likeliest candidates ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = most likely traded).
4. Akayleb Evans (CB)
Newcomer free agent Shaquill Griffin could cut into Evans’ defensive snaps this season. So could last year’s rookie Mekhi Blackmon. Evans has that working against him out of the gate.
Too, the current coaching staff benched Evans a couple of times in 2023, and it’s unclear if his once-rosy trajectory is intact.
Evans could be traded elsewhere if Minnesota deems Griffin, Blackmon, Andrew Booth, or Dwight McGlothern more game-ready. The return for Evans? Probably not much — like a conditional 6th-Round pick.
3. Andrew Booth (CB)
Showing up in 2024 for his third season in 2024, Booth is either here awaiting a breakout season or status as one of the most blah Vikings draft picks in recent memory. To be determined.
Booth fired up a decent 68.6 Pro Football Focus grade in 2023, playing about 100 coverage snaps. The man actually looked good when on the field; he just didn’t see the field consistently as a starter. He has youth on his side, and this summer + fall will determine if Booth has staying power in Minnesota. It could go either way.
Meanwhile, Minnesota has five playable cornerbacks on the roster — Byron Murphy, Shaquill Griffin, Mekhi Blackmon, Akayleb Evans, and Booth — so Booth could be tradebait later this offseason if the other four stand out in the summer. Of course, the Vikings wouldn’t fetch much for Booth — probably a 6th or 7th-Rounder.
2. Nick Mullens (QB)
This is Minnesota’s quarterback depth:
- Sam Darnold
- J.J. McCarthy
- Nick Mullens
- Jaren Hall
One man could be the odd man out, meaning Mullens might be shipped to a new team for the popular conditional 7th-Round pick trade. The coaching staff may still value Hall’s upside — over Mullens’ turnover-happy recklessness.
1. Lewis Cine (S)
Cine broke his leg 21 months ago, fully recovered last spring and summer, and then couldn’t win a starter’s job in 2023. In fact, Cine played eight defensive snaps in his second season — all garbage time against the Green Bay Packers in Week 17. He was not a factor for the 2023 Vikings.
Of course, Minnesota has safeties galore between Harrison Smith, Josh Metellus, Camryn Bynum, Jay Ward, Theo Jackson, and NaJee Thompson. In that vein, Cine isn’t really needed. But as a 1st-Rounder, the man should play some of the time.
Folks will figure out this summer and early in the 2024 regular season if Cine is truly a bust or just a late bloomer who broke his leg. The endgame could be a trade, probably for a late-round draft pick like the other candidates on this list.
Vikings Have a “Distressed Asset”
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 MIN 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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