Vikings Rival Turns Heads With Hint of Baiting MN Into Draft Trade

The Minnesota Vikings are living rent-free in Sean Payton‘s head.

After the first round of the 2024 draft on April 25, the Denver Broncos head coach postured that he was “active” in baiting the Vikings to move up one spot to the No. 10 pick to land J.J. McCarthy.

“I was actively involved in trying to pretend we were moving forward,” Payton said with a chuckle in an otherwise silent room as the logic didn’t land among Broncos media members.

Payton selected Bo Nix 12th overall after the Vikings gave the fourth- and fifth-round picks to the New York Jets to take their preferred quarterback in McCarthy, who was the consensus No. 4 quarterback ahead of the draft.

The Broncos had nothing to gain by a false flag trade-up with the Jets. Contrarily, their AFC counterpart benefited from the Vikings’ trade.

Payton’s comment could be a cover for a failed trade-up with the Jets as the urgency to land a quarterback was in the red after the Atlanta Falcons made the surprise move of the draft, selecting Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick.

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Vikings Receive Rousing 1st-Round Grades for 2024 Draft

While there have been wrinkles to nitpick in the Vikings’ overall path of the 2024 offseason, they came away with young talented replacements for Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter after speculation they would have to sell the farm for a quarterback prospect — earning rousing reviews of their first round.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper slotted the Vikings in the “biggest winners” section of his Friday column:

“All along, McCarthy was linked to the Vikings. And all along, we thought they might have to give up their other first-round pick — No. 23 — to get him. Instead, though, they patiently waited. They traded up one spot with the Jets, got their guy and kept the No. 23 pick. That’s a huge win. … Minnesota was able to use that pick at 23 to move up six spots to land [Dallas] Turner, my top-ranked edge rusher and the No. 9 player on my Big Board. While the franchise had to give up quite a bit — it also surrendered No. 167 and 2025 third- and fourth-rounders — Turner is a great player who fills a position of need. Like the Bears, the Vikings landed two players in my top 15. This is a really solid haul.”

Both first-rounders are already garnering rookie of the year hype given them falling into an ideal situation in Minnesota.

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Vikings Critiqued for Trade-Up for Dallas Turner

The toughest criticism of the Vikings’ first round is that their trade-up from No. 23 included the cost of the trade with the Houston Texans to acquire the pick in the first place.

“The team traded a future  2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th rounder along with this year’s 2^nd, 5^th and 6^th to get the 17^th best player in the draft? This is now a no margin for error kind of trade,” Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald wrote. “Turner has to be a major star, along the lines of a [Brian] Burns or Josh Allen type of player, to justify what they gave up.”

Fitzgerald, whose draft-value chart is used across NFL front offices and among analysts, largely looks at picks merely as commodities and overlooks the player acquired. Sure, Turner was selected No. 17, but landing him was considered the steal of the draft as his potential value is much higher than where he was selected.

According to ESPN, there was a 3% chance Turner would be available at No. 17, which occurred in the wake of the record 14 consecutive offensive players selected to start the draft.

Turner was the consensus No. 1 defender in the draft and projected to go No. 9 overall. The Vikings gave up extra capital to move up to No. 17, but balanced by the upside Turner has, it’s a reasonable bet to make that he can rise to his NFL projections.

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