Back in 2023, the Minnesota Vikings completed a trade that sent pass rusher Za'Darius Smith to the Cleveland Browns. Multiple draft picks were involved in the deal, and during the recent 2025 NFL Draft, the trade was officially completed.
The original trade happened in May of 2023, and it saw the Browns send a 2024 fifth-round draft pick and a 2025 fifth-round draft selection to the Vikings in exchange for Smith, a 2025 sixth-round draft pick, and a 2025 seventh-round draft selection.
Of the four draft picks that were involved in the deal, only one of them was kept and used by Minnesota or Cleveland. So, these selections have definitely traveled a bit in the last couple of years. But after Saturday, all of them have now officially been used.
Minnesota Vikings trade of Za'Darius Smith to Cleveland Browns officially finalized in 2025 NFL Draft
When all was said and done after the final round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Saturday, the Vikings, Browns, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, and Buffalo Bills were all linked to the original trade in some sort of way.
Draft Selections Acquired by the Vikings
2024 Fifth-Round Pick (157th Overall)
With this selection, Minnesota used it in their trade with the New York Jets in the 2024 NFL Draft to move up from pick No. 11 to pick No. 10 in the first round. With that 10th overall selection, the Vikings, of course, wound up adding former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
With the fifth-round pick in their possession after the trade with Minnesota, the Jets decided to include it in a trade with the Carolina Panthers in the 2024 draft that resulted in New York moving up in the third round from pick No. 72 to pick No. 65. With that 65th overall selection, the Jets picked former Western Kentucky wide receiver Malachi Corley.
Unlike New York and Minnesota, the Panthers opted to actually keep the fifth-round selection, and they eventually used it to add former Washington State cornerback Chau Smith-Wade.
2025 Fifth-Round Pick (139th Overall)
Out of the four draft selections that were involved in the Smith trade, this is the only one that didn't end up in the hands of another team.
Instead, the Vikings held onto the pick and it turned out to be the one that they used to select former Georgia defensive lineman Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins with the 139th overall pick in this year's NFL Draft.
Draft Selections Acquired by the Browns
2025 Sixth-Round Pick (200th Overall)
Cleveland and Jacksonville made a big blockbuster trade in the opening round of this year's draft that resulted in the Browns moving back from pick No. 2 in the first round to pick No. 5.
In the deal that the two teams agreed to, Cleveland used the 2025 sixth-round selection that they acquired from Minnesota in the Smith trade in the package that they sent to the Jaguars.
Jacksonville decided to keep the sixth-round pick, and they used it on Saturday to select former Navy safety Rayuan Lane III with the 200th overall pick.
2025 Seventh-Round Pick (240th Overall)
With this selection, the Browns included it in a trade with the Bears last August that also sent defensive lineman Chris Williams to Chicago.
Then, in this year's NFL Draft, the Bears took the 2025 seventh-round pick they acquired from Cleveland in the Williams trade and included it in a deal that they made with the Bills that saw Chicago move back from pick No. 41 to pick No. 56 in the second round.
Buffalo kept the selection, and with the 240th overall pick in the seventh and final round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Saturday, they added former Maryland wide receiver Kaden Prather.
For the Vikings, they came out great in all of this.
Minnesota's decision to trade Smith in 2023 wound up playing a factor in them drafting McCarthy in 2024. The deal with Cleveland also led to the Vikings adding Ingram-Dawkins on Saturday in the fifth round of this year's draft.
From the Smith trade, Minnesota potentially ended up with a franchise quarterback and an intriguing defensive lineman from Georgia, a school that has developed into a bit of a defensive lineman-U in the last few years.
Not bad for a deal that most Vikings fans had probably forgotten about by now.