Vikings are Reportedly Nervous They Won’t Find a Trade-Up Partner

By Eric Strack |

Updated: Apr 25, 2024

Minnesota Vikings 2024 — Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

4:15 p.m. CDT — The 2024 NFL Draft is about two hours away and the Minnesota Vikings are reportedly panicking because they cannot find a trade partner that will get them high enough in the 1st round of the NFL Draft to guarantee them a top quarterback prospect.

Minnesota Vikings reportedly getting nervous about finding trade-up partner in 2024 NFL Draft

According to Tony Pauline (Sportskeeda), the Vikings are “moving into panic mode” because nobody (presumably the Patriots at No. 3) will accept their trade offer. He goes onto write that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will have to “sweeten the offer”, which sounds like it currently includes the 11 and 23 picks.

According to sources, the Vikings are starting to move into panic mode as their recent attempts to trade up for a quarterback have been rebuffed. While the team has two picks in the first round (the 11th and 23rd selection), they have no day two picks and will have to sweeten the offer with selections in 2025.

I’m told Byron Murphy is a player they will target with the 11th pick if they can’t trade up, something I initially reported from the Shrine Bowl back in January, though there’s a very good chance the defensive tackle from Texas is drafted prior to that pick.
Tony Pauline – Sportskeeda

Why would the Vikings be panicking when all they have on the table is two picks? What this tells me is that the Kwesi is serious about not giving up everything in order to get up to No. 3. The Vikings may be panicking because they want their guy. I don’t blame them. But it also tells us that their offer is No. 11 and No. 23, not the entire future farm.

Jeff Darlington (ESPN) just did a hit at about 4 pm from the Vikings draft party and confirmed Pauline’s report, though he chose the word “tense” instead of “panic”.

It's reportedly a tense situation inside the #Vikings war room right now… pic.twitter.com/znRv8saKXG
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) April 25, 2024

That the Vikings only have their two 1st rounders on the table, noting they’d have to “sweeten the deal” with 2025 selections, since they don’t have day two picks in this draft. That sure makes it sound like the Pats would accept a deal that includes two 1sts this year and day two picks next year…

So, why would Pauline be trying to spin this like it’s the Vikings who are panicking? Well folks, therein lies the real question. Who is feeding all of this information, even to Darlington, who is in Minnesota and has a lot of Vikings connections. We’ll soon find out.

Maybe this report was leaked from somewhere else. But the team that makes the most sense is the New England Patriots, who have made it a very strange priority to tell everyone how much everybody is trying to trade with them.