Vikings News: Minnesota acquires defensive tackle from Raiders

The Minnesota Vikings have reportedly acquired defensive tackle P.J. Hall in a trade.

Last week, the defensive line of the Minnesota Vikings was dealt a major blow when nose tackle Michael Pierce announced his decision to opt-out of the 2020 season.

On Monday, the Vikings appear to be doing what they can to make up for the loss of Pierce. Minnesota has reportedly agreed to a trade with the Las Vegas Raiders that will send defensive tackle P.J. Hall to the Twin Cities in exchange for a conditional seventh-round draft pick according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Schefter also added that the Raiders will only receive the seventh-round draft selection if Hall is a member of the Vikings active roster for at least six games during the upcoming season.

Vikings News: Who is P.J. Hall?

Hall has been in the league for two years after Las Vegas selected him in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He’s appeared in 30 of a possible 32 games and he’s been a starter for 18 of them.

Last season, Hall started in 12 games for the Raiders and he finished with 26 tackles (five for a loss), six quarterback pressures, and 1.5 sacks.

Back during the 2018 NFL Draft process, Hall was actually one of the top 30 prospects Minnesota invited to their facilities. So the interest from the Vikings was clearly there before the defensive tackle ended up getting drafted by Las Vegas.

Initially, the Raiders were planning to release Hall. Minnesota saw this and obviously they felt they should make a move to acquire him in order to avoid another team being able to claim him on the waiver wire.

At the very least, the Vikings now have someone who could potentially emerge as their starting nose tackle this season. If Hall is unable to make the team, then Minnesota won’t be sending a seventh-round pick to Las Vegas. So it’s hard to argue against the trade the Vikings were able to make on Monday.