How many teams are the Vikings going to have to outbid if they really do want to move into the top five of the NFL Draft order?
Sports Ilustrated’s NFL insider Albert Breer told Dan Patrick on Tuesday that he’s 99% sure the Bears are taking Caleb Williams with the first pick, and that “the likelihood is still Jayden Daniels” going second to the Commanders.
That leads to the third pick and while Breer thinks the Patriots are still more likely to take a quarterback than trade down, the possibility of a trade certainly exists.
“I think New England’s looking at this and saying, ‘alright if the right quarterback falls to us we take him. If the one we like goes two and we don’t like the guy at three quite as much,’ would look look at trading down? I think they would consider that. I think it’s probably more likely they take a quarterback but I don’t think the idea of trading down is out of the picture for them at all.”
He also believes the Cardinals, at No. 4, are the most likely trade partner for a team looking to move up and get a quarterback. And he thinks there are four teams who are looking to make a move.
“The Giants, the Raiders, the Vikings and I think the Broncos are lurking as dark horse,” Breer said. “Four teams that could be in the market to move up and the Cardinals sitting there at four with a real chance to turn that pick into a lot more picks.”
.@AlbertBreer discusses the scenario in which he sees the top 4 picks in this year's #NFLDraft being Quarterbacks pic.twitter.com/n30CL4idsm
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 26, 2024
The Vikings appear to be in the driver’s seat and control their own destiny if they want to move up because they are armed with two first-round picks – Nos. 11 and 23 – in this year’s draft. If the Patriots or Cardinals want as many high picks as possible in this year’s deep draft class, then picks 11 and 23 carry a lot of weight compared to the future picks that the Giants, Raiders and Broncos would have to likely package in order to climb the board.
And as we pointed out yesterday, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell might’ve tipped Minnesota’s hand when he used the words “already” and “still” when talking about the possibility of the Vikings making a trade up the board.
“When that process is over, whether we’ve had a chance to move up or not already, or we’re still in the process of trying to do that, or maybe we love where we’re at as far as how we see the board, I think the key is the information and building some relationships with these guys,” O’Connell said.
The key words he used are “already” and “still.” Did he let it slip that the Vikings are currently trying to move into the top five of the draft? It sure seems like he did.
