Zulgad: Let's make a deal: Vikings have big decision to make as trade deadline nears
Minnesota learned Sunday that an elite-level interior pass rusher or a quality young cornerback could be the difference when it comes to how far the upstart Purple can go in the playoffs.
The refrain from Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and his players following a 31-29 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium had to do with cleaning up mistakes and making improvements. The Lions are one of the best teams in the NFL and provided the toughest test of the season for the now 5-1 Vikings.
It was a difficult loss — the Vikings led 10-0 after the first quarter, gave up 21 points in the second and then outscored the Lions 19-10 in the final two quarters — but it also left Minnesota’s decision makers with a clear vision of what needs to be done.
The question is will they act on it?
The Vikings’ defense has been outstanding for much of the season, but gave up 144 yards on the ground, including 116 to the elusive Jahmyr Gibbs, and 280 yards in the air to the nearly perfect Jared Goff. The Lions are the exact type of team the Vikings are going to have to get through if they want reach their first Super Bowl since January 1977, but that’s going to require help.
Either a premier interior defensive lineman or top-level cornerback would show just how serious the Vikings are about getting to New Orleans. Those players don’t come cheap and time is running out to acquire one. The NFL trade deadline is two weeks from Tuesday (Nov. 5) at 3 p.m.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell must decide how much draft capital they might be willing to exchange for a Dexter Lawrence-type up front.
The Lions’ run game thrived in part because the Vikings were without linebacker Blake Cashman (turf toe), but it was more than that. The Vikings’ defensive line is better than expected, but it lacks an interior game-wrecker and that’s what Lawrence is for the New York Giants.
Is he available? That all depends on what is offered. He would be costly and the Vikings currently only have three picks (a first and two fifths) in the 2025 draft. It wouldn’t even be worth calling the Giants, if you were only going to offer one first. The Vikings would need to dip into their 2026 draft, sending at least another first and perhaps a third to New York.
Lawrence was signed to a four-year, $90 million extension in May 2023 and is under contract through 2027. He is listed at 6-foot-4, 340 pounds and will turn 27 on Nov. 12. The Giants are at the bottom of the NFC East with a 2-5 record and lost 28-3 on Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Lawrence, however, had two sacks and now has a career-high nine in seven games and 30 in his six-year career. If Lawrence can’t be pried away, the Vikings could pursue defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, a 2019 first-round pick of the Tennessee Titans (1-5). The 27-year-old has only one sack this season but 27.5 in six seasons with the Titans.
This is where the Vikings need to make a decision.
The team’s brass almost certainly had higher expectations than the outside world for this season, but it’s doubtful anyone thought they would only have one loss through six games and be in the conversation as one of the NFL’s better teams. Putting a guy like Lawrence or Simmons by Harrison Phillips, would eliminate many of the holes that exist for a defense that looked vulnerable at times on Sunday.
So does Adofo-Mensah remain patient and see how far this group can take the Vikings, or does he alter his strategy by trying to move draft picks for help where it’s needed most? A case can be made for either plan.
Sam Darnold has been better than anyone expected, but he’s still the placeholder for 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, who will return from injury next season and take over as the starting quarterback. Can Darnold actually win multiple playoff games?
That can be debated and Sunday’s game only adds to that conversation. Darnold had a rocky first half, improved for much of the second half but couldn’t get it done when it mattered most. The Vikings led 29-28 with 2 minutes, 46 seconds left in the fourth quarter and were facing a third-and-4 from their own 28. A first down would have gone a long way toward making sure the Lions didn’t get the ball back.
Darnold dropped back to pass, looked right for Justin Jefferson and threw a pass over Jefferson’s head. That forced a punt and the Lions won the game with a 44-yard field goal by Jake Bates on the ensuing drive.
There are a couple of good reasons for the Vikings to call an audible and go all-in for this season. 1) You can’t count on success next year just because you like the makeup of the roster. Football has a way of humbling teams through various means, including injuries, and the 2024 Vikings have a pretty good head start on success through seven weeks. 2) If you can acquire a guy like Lawrence or Simmons it isn’t just a rental. Simmons, like Lawrence, also is signed through 2027, meaning they would remain part of the team when the expected winning window opened.
If Adofo-Mensah wanted to explore the cornerback market, the Browns are 1-6 after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals and could be interested in trading 24-year-old Greg Newsome II. Newsome was a late first-round pick in 2021 and already has had the fifth-year option on his contract picked up for 2025. Adofo-Mensah is familiar with the Browns, having worked for GM Andrew Berry before going to Minnesota.
Another potential target could be Carolina cornerback Jaycee Horn, the No. 8 pick in the 2021 draft. The Panthers are 1-6 and Horn also has had his fifth-year option picked up for next season.
This isn’t meant to denigrate the Vikings’ current cornerback trio of Stephon Gilmore, Byron Murphy Jr. or Shaq Griffin. But Gilmore is 34 and in his 13th season and Griffin is 29, in his eighth year and with his fourth team in the past three seasons. Murphy is only 26 but is in the last year of his contract. Newsome or Horn could provide an immediate upgrade and longer-term security at corner.
Adofo-Mensah said before his first season as the Vikings’ GM that “you never want to go full Rams,” talking about how O’Connell’s former team had dealt multiple high draft picks in order to win a Super Bowl in the 2021 season. Adofo-Mensah also hadn’t spent a couple of years as a GM at that point and was trying to pull off what he called a “competitive rebuild.”
The Vikings are no longer rebuilding, but rather just competitive. Despite their mistakes on Sunday, they nearly improved to 6-0 by beating one of the NFL’s best teams. An interior push on defense or a younger, top-level corner could have been the difference.
The Vikings know this. The question is will they do anything about it in the next two weeks?