Bleacher Report Names Best Vikings Trade Idea
The Minnesota Vikings employ Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as general manager, a man who loves the art of the deal.
Bleacher Report Names Best Vikings Trade Idea
No matter what, between now, the 2025 NFL Draft, and the end of the summer, Adofo-Mensah will fire off a trade or two. It’s his modus operandi.
And according to Bleacher Report, the Vikings should be in the market for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner. Minnesota needs some interior defensive line enhancements, and per BR’s scouting collective staff, Buckner should be the trade target.
Here’s the trade in their estimation:
Vikings Get:
DeForest Buckner (DT)
2025 5th-Rounder
2025 6th-Rounder
Colts Get:
2025 3rd-Rounder
2025 5th-Rounder
BR explained, “The Vikings took a big step up in scoring defense this season. They finished fifth with Flores conducting a defense that had the highest blitz rate in the league. With a little more talent up front, they could be the best defense in the league. That’s the kind of ceiling they would have by adding a player like Buckner into the mix.”
Minnesota has not employed a truly impactful defensive tackle at Buckner’s spot since Kevin Williams, who left the franchise 11 years ago. It might be time to subscribe to a theory like Bleacher Report‘s as a fix.
“For all the success the Vikings had, they don’t have a dominant interior defender. With Jonathan Bullard and Jerry Tillery set to hit free agency, they will have to find answers for who will play on the inside. Buckner is 30 years old, but he’s still a handful for teams to block. He had 6.5 sacks and eight tackles for a loss in 12 games played with the Colts this season,” BR added.
Here’s Buckner’s Pro Football Focus resume to date:
- 2024: 81.9
- 2023: 81.8
- 2022: 82.3
- 2021: 71.9
- 2020: 89.6
- 2019: 81.5
- 2018: 79.3
- 2017: 81.3
- 2016: 71.6
Buckner is as consistent as the sunrise, a three-time Pro Bowler, and three-time All-Pro. The only drawback? Age. He’ll turn 31 this offseason. That isn’t a dealbreaker, but Buckner cannot be considered a commodity in his absolute prime.
Otherwise, if Minnesota prefers Round 1 of the draft for an interior defensive lineman, rookies like Tyleik Williams (Ohio State) and Walter Nolen (Ole Miss) could be available at pick No. 24.
There’s also free agency — that won’t cost a 3rd-Round pick — with DTs like Javon Hargrave, Osa Odighizuwa, Levi Onwuzurike, Milton Williams, and Jarran Reed, among others, scheduled to hit the open market.
Minnesota has about $60 million in cap space to spend on free agents as of early February.
If the BR theory came true, most Vikings fans would vehemently approve the trade.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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