Trader Rick is Armed with 12 Picks and Ready to Deal

Rick Spielman is no stranger to collecting picks in drafts, often having the most selections out of any team. This year, however, the Vikings could be looking to exchange some of these picks to move up in the draft. The Vikings rarely pick this high up in the draft, and they would prefer to keep it that way. The 14th overall pick represents the highest selection by the Vikings in the past 6 years. This presents an opportunity to move up and pick one of the elite prospects in this year’s class. Rick Spielman and the Vikings have done an excellent job solidifying weaknesses through free agency allowing them to be flexible in the first round.

Who Will Rick Find for a Dance Partner?

How aggressive do the Vikings really want to be? Rick Spielman has made it very clear the Vikings would have no problem using draft capital to maneuver the draft and poetically move up to select one of the coveted top 10 players available. The question is, what would the Vikings be willing to give up and where would they like to get up to? There are a few teams in the top that are willing to and have been fielding calls to try and move down in the draft. The Falcons at 4 or the Lions at 7 to name a few and the Vikings have been calling.

The Atlanta Falcons

A move up to 4th pick would likely multiple first-round picks and only makes sense if you are trying to get a quarterback. That doesn’t seem to be the case for the Vikings, there has been nothing but support for Kirk Cousins coming out of the Vikings camp. A quarterback doesn’t seem likely with that being the case, although you never know what may transpire on draft night.

But for argument’s sake, if we are to attempt a trade with the Falcons, what would it take? Well if you use the 49ers trade to get from 12 to 3 as a template the Vikings would need to give up at least 4 picks spread out over the next 2 years maybe even a 3rd year. The Vikings do have multiple 3rd and 4th round picks this year, but a team trading the 4th overall would not be interested in mid-round picks but rather 1st and 2nd round picks. So is it worth trading all of that for what would likely be an offensive lineman? Probably not, but this has been a need for the Vikings for almost a decade and if they are sure that there is a guy in this draft that can solve that conundrum then maybe it would be worth the trade.

Detroit Lions

Another possible partner for the Vikings to trade with if they wish to move into the top 10 of the draft is the Detroit Lions. They pick at 7, so you wouldn’t be moving up too much to position yourself in a spot that you feel confident enough you will to get the guy you want. The only problem there is that they are a division rival, so they would probably want to a lot more from us than they would from another team outside the division. Although they wouldn’t demand a ransom as high as the Falcons at 4, we would have to give up a lot more than would be necessary otherwise.

Everything Comes at a Price.

There is a price for everything, it just depends on how much you are willing to pay for it. In this case how much are you willing to give up to get the player you think will help your franchise for years to come. Most teams have their eye set on a player or group of players that they could be interested in taking but all their heads can be turned with the right offer. In the case of the Vikings, they are in a position to be able to compete right now, and although they have always valued having a plan in place for the future and stocking up on draft capital, they may wish to put that to the side and go all in to try and win now. So is giving up future draft picks really such a bad idea?