Are We Heading to a Vikings Draft Night Trade Back?
The 2026 NFL draft is fast approaching, and the mock drafts and draft opinions are in full swing. The popular man to be sent to the Minnesota Vikings right now is Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman. Is he the right pick for the Vikings at 18? Is anybody? Or could we be looking at a Vikings draft-day trade back?
Vikings Trade Back Scenario Is Gaining Steam
The Vikings draft suddenly seems to hinge on Thieneman, who moved from a potentially second-round prospect to a first-rounder after a phenomenal performance at the combine. Should a performance in some drills on one day drastically change the view of a player? The fact is, it can. On the flip side, other options that looked good for the Vikings, like interior defensive linemen Caleb Banks and Peter Woods, have seen their draft stock tank.
If you look at the positions that the Vikings still need to address this offseason – defensive tackle, safety, center, running back, linebacker, WR3 – and assuming Calen Downs and Jeremiyah Love are off the board at 18.
The players Minnesota might be looking at, like Thieneman, Woods, Banks, Kayden McDonald, Emannuel McNeill-Warren, and CJ Allen, might still be available after the trade back. You might even be able to get two of those players, and when they aren’t at the top end of draft prospects, it gives better value.
Thieneman’s draft stock may have even risen to the point that someone takes him before 18, in which case the trade back should look even more agreeable to the Vikings’ brain trust.
Don’t Let the Scars of the Past Affect Judgement
Trading back in the first round might bring horrible memories of the 2022 draft for some, but Kwesi Adofo-Mensah got his marching orders back in January. Rob Brzezinski and Kevin O’Connell will be putting this draft together, and if a quality player falls into your lap – as Kyle Hamilton did in 2022 – then you pull the trigger. However, if that doesn’t happen, then there is no need for the Vikings to reach for a player.
Of course, then it becomes a case of getting good value from the trade. What good value looks like is somewhat subjective; there are many draft trade chats out there that have their own ideas.
The slight concern is that the Vikings only have an acting general manager in place, a very strange position to be in. Navigating a successful draft, including successful trades, could put Brzezinski in the frame for the full-time GM role, but we don’t know what the Vikings are thinking long term, with everyone keeping their cards close to their chest in Minnesota.
The first round of the 2026 NFL draft kicks off on April 23 in Pittsburgh.
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