Minnesota Vikings look to get back on track after two straight losses

Two weeks ago, my father and I sat in U.S. Bank Stadium, watching Justin Jefferson run out of the tunnel as thousands of people screamed his name. Coming off a bye week, Jefferson and the Vikings were 5-0, one of two undefeated teams left in the NFL, and leading their division. Sam Darnold was throwing the football as well as anyone in the league, and the defense was getting turnovers and sacks consistently.

Now, almost two weeks later, the Vikings are 5-2, following two losses to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams. Jefferson has looked visibly frustrated on the sidelines, Darnold has looked inconsistent, the offense is taking too many penalties and the defense has stopped getting pressure and turnovers all together. Potential all-pro left tackle Christian Darrisaw has also been ruled out for the season due to a knee injury. From a fan perspective, these past two games couldn’t have gone much worse.

This major change in outcome has caused people to ask numerous questions across the various social media sites that I possess about what the Vikings should do for the remaining ten games of the season, but the question I want to focus most on is what the Vikings should do at the trade deadline. The trade deadline this year is on Tuesday , which is rapidly approaching, and for a team who just lost two straight games the Vikings may be looking to make some moves to shore up the offensive or defensives lines, as well as the secondary. However, the way the team is built currently leads me to believe that the Vikings should not only not trade for any players but should look at trading some away.

The Vikings currently possess three 2025 draft picks: a first-round pick and two fifth-round selections. The projections also show that they will get at least another third rounder due to Kirk Cousins signing in Atlanta. This is an extraordinarily low amount of draft capital, and if the Vikings were to trade for a true difference maker at the deadline to help the interior of the defensive line, such as Jeffrey Simmons of the Tennessee Titans or Dexter Lawrence of the New York Giants, the conversations would certainly begin around that first round pick the Vikings have.

I normally wouldn’t mind trading away a first-round pick for a star player, but this year, in my eyes, was never going to be the year the Vikings made a deep playoff run. Sam Darnold was not supposed to be this good up until this point and J.J. McCarthy is most likely going to still be the starting quarterback next year. In my opinion, the Vikings should hold onto that first rounder and take a good, young defensive back or interior offensive lineman that can benefit this team in the future.

Of course, as soon as I began writing this article my phone lit up with a notification, and I see that the Vikings have made a trade for Cam Robinson, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting left tackle. This is a move to replace Darrisaw and the compensation is only one of the fifth rounders I spoke of earlier. While not a move that has a lot of risk, I still don’t understand the need to trade one of your only draft picks, but maybe that is why I am not running the team.

Anyways, I think the Vikings should listen to calls as the deadline approaches on a few players. The corners the Vikings currently roll out to start are ones they could move. Byron Murphy Jr., Stephon Gilmore and Shaquill Griffin all have had a lackluster past two weeks, and as someone who doesn’t quite believe in the strength of the team this year, I would look to move them for late round draft picks if you can. Nonetheless, acquiring some draft capital could benefit the Vikings next year.

In the end, the move for Cam Robinson isn’t going to make the Vikings a much better team this year, and it won’t hurt their future that much either. However, making additional moves using the limited draft picks they have may hurt their outlook as Vikings fans all over await McCarthys regular season debut next year. As for me, I expect them to hold their first-round pick at the deadline. Only time will tell if any more moves they complete will make me frustrated, but I know I will be watching every down, every game, and I plan on attending another game at U.S. Bank Stadium later this year. Life is better when the Vikings are winning, and I hope no matter their deadline moves that they’ve racked up a few more wins before I have the pleasure of critiquing them in person again.