Will the Vikings’ three first-round picks be enough to trade up with the New England Patriots for the No. 3 overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft?
Not according to NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran.
“From what I’m hearing, it’s going to take a lot more than (three first-round picks) for the Patriots to be moved off their spot,” Curran said on Tom Curran’s Patriots Talk Podcast. “Because they, as a team, collectively, understand the opportunity that these three quarterbacks represent at the top of the draft.”
The three quarterbacks being LSU’s Jayden Daniels, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, all of whom appear destined to be taken within the top 5 of the draft. Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams is all but assured to be taken No. 1 overall by the Chicago Bears when the 2024 NFL draft kicks off on April 25.
The Washington Commanders have the No. 2 overall selection and are likely to select either Daniels or Maye, although McCarthy has recently been in the mix, as well. The Patriots are expected to select whoever is left on the board between Maye and Daniels after recently parting ways with last year’s starter in Mac Jones.
The Patriots, however, have other significant holes to fill on the roster and have been floated as a team the Vikings could potentially be trade partners with as the extra draft capital could be used to fill holes elsewhere. The Vikings acquired the No. 23 overall pick from the Houston Texans along with their own selection at No. 11, two picks the Patriots could use to select very good players to fill current voids on the roster.
Minnesota has a mostly strong roster, but has a major void at quarterback.
Those two first-round picks for the Vikings plus next year’s first appear to be enough to move them into the top 5 of the draft to select their quarterback of the future, but perhaps not with the Patriots if Curran’s intel is correct. So if the Vikings really like Maye, for example, and he’s still on the board at No. 3 and they want to trade up, they might have to shell out significantly more draft capital than the three first-round picks.
“It would take an unbelievable amount to move them off their spot, not that they couldn’t be, but it would take a lot more to move them off of three because they see it right in front of them,” Curran said of the Patriots on the podcast. “The hardest thing to capture is there.”
