The Minnesota Vikings are now 5-2, after dropping their Thursday Night Football matchup to the Los Angeles Rams, earlier this week. So, while most of the NFL is active on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings are watching from home.
We’ve already seen the Vikings make one in-season trade, a deja-vu style move that landed RB Cam Akers back on the team, a deal that was almost identical to the trade they made last year, around the same time, for the same player.
Minnesota Vikings want another week to decide NFL trade deadline fate
Apparently, they’ll be idle this week too. While other NFL teams are moving and grooving, making early trade deadline moves, Kwesi & Co are expected to stand pat. Beat writer Ben Goessling (Star Tribune) writes that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Kevin O’Connell and Brian Flores want another week to evaluate their own team, before the NFL Trade Deadline, on Tuesday (Nov 5).
The NFL’s decision to move its trade deadline back by one week means the Vikings will play once more, at home next Sunday night against the Colts, before deciding how aggressive they want to be in pursuit of upgrades for their 2024 roster.
Obviously, if someone comes to the Vikings with a trade offer so good they can’t pass it up, then they’ll probably make it happen. But what Ben Goessling’s report tells me is that Kevin O’Connell & Co plan to go one more week with the same core group of starters, specifically on the offensive line, following the Darrisaw injury.
Maybe decision makers want to see new offensive line for a week?
The most likely replacement at left tackle, according to beat reporter Matthew Coller (PurpleInsider.com), is left guard, Blake Brandel, who has played quite a bit of tackle during his 3.5 year NFL career. Read the entire article for a deep dive into the domino effect that would take place if Brandel slides over one spot to his left.
But in summary, Dalton Risner would slot in at the position he prefers on the offensive line, which is left guard (over right guard). And everything else stays the same. No shuffling, or moving around. Is it the ideal situation? No, but it’s the same front four at LG, C, RG and RT, as what the Minnesota Vikings deployed in 2023.
Can an offensive line of (from left to right), Brandel, Risner, Bradbury, Ingram and O’Neill protect Sam Darnold well enough for him to be effective? Can that offensive line open holes for Aaron Jones and the rest of the running backs who never see the field? Those questions are yet to be answered.
If Goessling’s report is true, I’d have to imagine the Vikings coaching staff and front office want to see one week of their new o-line, before they decide whether or not it is worth “fixing”. But no matter what they do, it doesn’t sound like Kwesi & Co are in any hurry to make it happen.
Vikings in no hurry, with trade deadline more than one week away
Darrisaw’s injury hurt even more, because the Vikings roster already had too many holes to fill, even before arguably the best player on their roster went down for the season. That’s why, if they do make a big splash, it’ll probably be for a player who helps them beyond 2024.
They’ll have to operate with pragmatism, with so many areas they could address and just three draft picks currently in their 2025 stash. But even if the Vikings were to make a big move before the deadline, history suggests they might do so with an eye beyond this year, anyway.
Now, heading into the final full week before the November 5 NFL trade deadline, the Minnesota Vikings need CB help, iDL help, interior OL help and now exterior OL help. That’s a lot of needs for a team that doesn’t have any draft picks to trade away.
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