When Rick Spielman was the general manager of the Vikings, he often opted to trade down in the NFL draft and acquire additional draft capital. But Spielman sees his former team in a spot where “they don’t have a choice” but to trade up for a quarterback of the future.
Spielman said on CBS Sports Network that he believes the Vikings have been setting themselves up to trade up in the draft ever since they acquired an additional first-round pick, No. 23 overall, from the Houston Texans. He believes they’ll trade up for Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
“I heard a lot of things that Minnesota thought (McCarthy) had an excellent Pro Day up there and fits exactly what Kevin O’Connell wants to do from an offensive standpoint,” Spielman said. “But they’re not going to get up for just the (two first-round) picks, they’re going to have to throw in their first-round pick from 2025, plus some more draft capital.”
Or, as Spielman put it in other words, the Vikings will have to overpay to trade up and take the fourth-best quarterback in the draft. He did say he thinks McCarthy will be a “good pro,” but are three first-round picks plus additional draft capital too much to part with to be able to select the Michigan product?
“Well, they don’t have a choice,” Spielman said. “I mean who’s going to play quarterback for them right now? Sam Darnold they signed, and he’s a bridge or whatever you want to call, whatever term you want to use (for) these guys, stopgap, bridge, placeholder-type quarterback.
“… If they honestly believe this is the future, and they go out and get him and he has a very successful career and gets them to the Super Bowl, who gives a rat’s tail whether you gave up three first-round picks or not? No one cares. But if it doesn’t, then you’re gonna look back and say you gave up all that draft capital for a guy that was not even, the fourth-best quarterback, but not even the fourth-best player coming out of this year’s draft. I don’t know if they have any options or a choice.”
