Last-Minute Update for Vikings’ Path to Drake Maye
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings will conduct one of their most pivotal drafts in team history on Thursday night, expected to select a quarterback sometime in Round 1.
Last-Minute Update for Vikings’ Path to Drake Maye
Caleb Williams (USC), Drake Maye (North Carolina), Jayden Daniels (LSU), Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), J.J. McCarthy (Michigan), and Bo Nix (Oregon) are expected to go off the board in Rounds 1 and 2, and the Vikings have been primarily connected to Maye and McCarthy for the last couple of months.
Most of the team’s fans have labeled Maye as their preference, and with the draft mere hours away, New England Patriots insider Tom Curran explained the stakes of a would-be trade between Minnesota and New England.
“Expect the Patriots to take Drake Maye at number three tonight unless someone — Vikings or Giants —makes them an offer they just can’t refuse,” Curran tweeted.
On March 15th, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah pulled off an out-of-nowhere trade, grabbing an additional 1st-Round pick from the Houston Texans while offloading two 2nd-Rounders in the deal, plus a late-round pick swap. That positioned Minnesota to make another trade up the draftboard, which could arrive tonight.
On the price mentioned by Curran, purple and gold fans wrestled with sending three 1st-Rounders to a team like the Patriots in a trade that would enable the purple team to draft a quarterback of the future — in other words, Maye. But the price keeps rising, at least in theory.
“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 earlier this month.
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?”
No general manager anywhere will 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.
Still, according to Curran, it’s all about price, and Adofo-Mensah must decide if he’s willing to “spend it all.” Five 1st-Rounders won’t be the ask, but three and change could be on the menu.
The Vikings have never used a Top 10 draft pick on a quarterback. They’ve also started 25 quarterbacks in the last 25 years — from Jeff George to Nick Mullens.
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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