If the report is true it could be good news for the Vikings in their on-going, highly-publicized effort to trade down. Even at 7 there’s a good shot the Vikings could still land Matt Kalil. One assumes a trade that far down would net them at least Jacksonville’s third if not their second. Another thing to watch for.

Update: Schefter just said the Jags’ target is Blackmon. Trade coming for the Vikings?

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Jan 9, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Trent Richardson (3) carries the ball during the BCS National Championship game agains the LSU Tigers at the Louisiana Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-US PRESSWIRE

Crazy season has been upon us for awhile, but now we’re officially in batpoop crazy season. Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork made a big contribution to the craziness today by tweeting about the Jets’ apparent interest in trading up high enough to draft Alabama running back Trent Richardson. “At NFL event today, Trent Richardson said #Jets called him Sunday to verify correct contact info just in case they trade up for him. Hmm.”

Hmm indeed. Especially if you’re a Viking watcher who favors the idea of a trade down from 3. But most plausible trade scenarios thus far have floated the idea of the Vikes moving down maybe a pick or two, at most down to #8. The Jets don’t pick in the first round until 16. How many picks could you dislodge from the Jets in a trade for the #3? It would have to be a lot. And given the Vikings’ need for a major upgrade at any of at least three positions? The 16th pick seems a little low for your first selection.

Unless of course you got a totally absurd bounty of picks in the trade. Then, hell yeah. But would the Jets really do it? For Trent Richardson? Last month I floated the idea of the Buccaneers trading up two spots for Richardson, and was informed that such an idea is absurd given the lowered value of the running back position in today’s pass-heavy NFL. If a team wouldn’t even go up two spots for a running back, then certainly no team would leap from 16 all the way to 3.

Then again, I doubt many people would’ve believed last year’s Julio Jones trade could happen before it did. The point being, crazy things happen sometimes, especially when draft day looms up and teams start getting desperate. If the Jets think they’re close to winning and believe all they need is a stud running back to put them where they want to be? They might do it. The Falcons last year thought Jones was the last piece in their puzzle, hence their willingness to pull off what looked at the time like a crazy deal.

Realistically we must put this Jets trade scenario down as something completely far-fetched and silly and impossible. And then wait to see if our assumptions are proved wrong as they have been so many times before.

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Jan 9, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Trent Richardson (3) carries the ball during the BCS National Championship game agains the LSU Tigers at the Louisiana Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-US PRESSWIRE

Forget Ryan Tannehill. Forget Morris Claiborne. Forget Justin Blackmon. If the Vikings are going to trade their #3 pick on draft day, the key to making it happen will be Trent Richardson.

Yes there are multiple teams interested in Tannehill, including the Browns and Dolphins. One seemingly plausible trade scenario has the Dolphins swapping their #8 pick and others for the Vikings’ #3, just to get ahead of the Browns. Alternately, the Browns could get nervous about the Dolphins wanting Tannehill and trade up one spot with the Vikings. The Browns trade scenario would probably be preferable for the Vikings in that it would likely net them a second 1st rounder and still allow them to take Matt Kalil with the #4. Trading with the Dolphins at 8 would likely mean no Kalil for the Vikings.

The Tannehill scenarios are looking less likely with each passing day, however. The Dolphins may love Tannehill to death, and God knows they could use a young highly-touted QB to inject some life into their sad-sack organization, but the key to the whole thing is the Browns and they may not be looking at Tannehill at all. Reports early Friday suggest the Browns have someone else in mind for their #4 pick. And that someone is Alabama running back Trent Richardson.

Tony Grossi of ESPNCleveland notes that though the Browns and offensive coordinator Brad Childress are thought to be very high on Tannehill, both Browns GM Tom Heckert and head coach Pat Shurmur skipped Tannehill’s pro day to scout Richardson (and watched Richardson bowl over Browns running backs coach Gary Brown). Grossi’s article also cites the opinion of draft expert Dane Brugler, who believes Mike Holmgren’s best talent available philosophy favors Richardson over the QB.  Grossi also shoots down Mike Mayock who is on record saying the Browns “must” take Tannehill.

That’s all great, but for a trade to happen another team has to be interested in Richardson. That team is not the Vikings who already have Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart. Rick Spielman can smokescreen that one all he wants; no one in their right mind will ever believe the Vikings have interest in taking Richardson over Kalil, Blackmon or Claiborne. Luckily, Spielman doesn’t have to whip out his poker skills on this one. There’s already another team with a high interest in Richardson that is in a favorable position to swap picks with the Vikings. That team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted this morning that the Buccaneers “love” Richardson, even though both GM Mark Dominik and coach Greg Schiano elected to skip his pro day. It has long been the consensus among Tampa area beat writers that, despite all the mocks sending Morris Claiborne to Tampa, Richardson would ultimately be the pick. The question for the Vikings is: how much do the Buccaneers love Trent Richardson? Enough to trade up to #3 to keep the Browns from getting him first?

There’s an obvious objection to all these Richardson-related scenarios. He’s a running back. Running backs aren’t worth what they used to be. A team may love Trent Richardson, but does that mean they’d be willing to give up extra draft picks just to have him? It’s a fair question. However, if any team might be willing to make such a trade happen for a running back, it’s Tampa Bay. Their free agent spending this offseason demonstrates a win-now attitude. If they think they’re one top-of-the-line running back away from having a playoff team? And Richardson is the only running back in this draft who has that kind of ability? They could very well pull the trigger. Which would be very good news for the Vikings, because not only would they get an extra pick or two from Tampa, they would also be able to still take Matt Kalil #5 assuming he didn’t go #4 to Cleveland (highly unlikely with Joe Thomas in town) or someone who made a trade with Cleveland.

The Richardson-Tampa scenario is probably pretty far-fetched, but in my mind it’s not as far-fetched as the Browns moving up one spot for Tannehill just to fend off Miami. Right now, I’d say the Vikings’ best shot at pulling off the trade is to swing a deal with Tampa. But if I were betting money on what will actually happen, I’d still put it all on the Vikings not making a trade and taking Kalil. We’re still a month from the draft though, and a lot can change.

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