The Minnesota Vikings were as active as any team during the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. They entered the night with two first-round picks, giving them the ammunition to move up and down the board to be in a position to select the prospects they coveted the most.
Minnesota entered the night with Nos. 12 and 23 in the first round. They ended up selecting at No. 11 and 17, as they completed trades with the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars to move up twice.
To move up one spot with the Jets, the Vikings sent their fourth and fifth-round picks in the 2024 NFL Draft to New York. In the trade with Jacksonville, moving up six spots, Minnesota traded No. 167 along with a third and fourth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
With those selections, the Vikings came away with Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy and Alabama defensive end Dallas Turner. However, Minnesota was reportedly seeking out an even bigger trade earlier in the night.
According to NFL insider Mike Florio, the Vikings were attempting to make a trade up to No. 5 with the Los Angeles Chargers. Based on how their evening went, conventional wisdom would say they wanted to snag McCarthy in that spot, getting ahead of the New York Giants at No. 6 who were also interested in a quarterback.
Alas, that was not the case. According to Florio, it was LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers who Minnesota had their sights set on had they been able to acquire the No. 5 pick from the Chargers. Nabers ended up going No. 6 to the Giants.
What a wild turn of events that would have been. The Vikings, who have all-world pass catcher Justin Jefferson and used a first-round pick on Jordan Addison in the 2023 NFL Draft, were looking to add another dynamic pass catcher to the mix in Nabers.
Will they be better off with how things turned out? Only time will tell. But, moving up from No. 12 into the top 5 would have almost certainly required parting ways with both first-rounders this year and more capital on top of that.
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