A new day brings with it fresh rumors about the Minnesota Vikings draft. Here in flyover country, we wanted everyone to be watching, and this NFL offseason has provided just that. And in the twelve days leading up to the NFL Draft on April 25, it won’t be stopping at all.
The Minnesota Vikings are unwilling to trade up for the No. 23 pick.
Contrary to common assumption, the Vikings are attempting to hold onto their No. 23 overall pick in any trade-up scenario for their next franchise quarterback, according to Fowler, a former employee of the Vikings organization. The Commanders (No. 2), Cardinals (No. 4), and Raiders destroyed Minnesota’s report. Below the video is a transcription of the Vikings segment.
Jeremy Fowler this morning on Sportscenter reports, among other things, that the #Vikings are trying to keep the No. 23 overall pick in trade up talks. pic.twitter.com/CnXN6i25OD
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 13, 2024
“And you got Minnesota armed with two first round picks. This is the team that could be active. I’ve talked to several teams who believe that Minnesota at least right now, doesn’t want to part with that second first rounder, which is in the 20s. They want to try to preserve that, which could be tough to move up into the top five for a quarterback. So the feeling is they’re looking around at potentially McCarthy there, one of the quarterbacks, but they might not want to give up enough to get there.”
Without the No. 23 pick, drafting a franchise quarterback will be much more difficult, unless…
It will be extremely tough to get into the top-10, let alone the top-5, if Kwesi is unwilling to give up the No. 23 pick, as Fowler says. Does that imply that the report is false? Not infallibly, but the fact that it happened in the midst of the lying season suggests we should exercise caution.
It’s interesting, though, that Fowler’s report was released the day after Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk openly questioned whether the Vikings were hoping that, once the active tampering investigation is concluded, the NFL would force the Falcons into a pick-swap that would result in them selecting eighth overall rather than eleventh. They may be able to get J.J. McCarthy with the No. 8 pick if they are up from the No. 23 pick.
We must exercise caution when interpreting any information at this time of year, particularly in 2024. If the information comes from a trustworthy reporter—which this one most definitely is—we take it in, never overreact (because it’s lying season), and store it away for later use.
