In a little less than a month, the first day of the 2024 NFL Draft will begin for the Minnesota Vikings and every other team in the league. Currently, with two selections in the first round, the Vikings could potentially make some serious moves on Day 1.
If Minnesota's first round of this year's draft goes anything like what NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah recently predicted, then things are about to get a bit crazy for the purple and gold.
In the 3.0 version of his 2024 NFL mock draft, Jeremiah has the Vikings making a trade to acquire the fourth overall selection and then using that pick to add former Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy.
Minnesota Vikings land J.J. McCarthy in 2024 mock draft after trade with Arizona Cardinals
In order to move all the way up to the No. 4 pick in the first round, Jeremiah explained on his "Moving The Sticks" podcast that he has Minnesota giving up their two selections in the opening round (No. 11 and No. 23) in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals. He also has the Vikings acquiring picks No. 90 (third round) and No. 138 (fifth round) in the deal with the Cardinals.
So Minnesota ends up with their quarterback of the future, and an Arizona team with a ton of holes to fill on its roster gets a chance to make three selections in the first round of this year's draft.
According to the DraftTek trade value chart, the Vikings are actually receiving less in return than they are giving up in this trade, despite it resulting in them also landing additional picks in the third and fifth rounds.
This would definitely be the ideal scenario for Minnesota in this year's NFL Draft, as they would not only end up with McCarthy, but they would also get to keep their first-round pick in 2025.
In reality, depending on how many other teams are calling the Cardinals about the No. 4 pick in April, the Vikings still might have to include their 2025 first-round selection in order to get the winning bid when it comes to the actual 2024 NFL Draft.
But if Arizona is willing to agree to the trade proposal that Jeremiah laid out in his most recent mock draft, Minnesota should be sprinting to the podium to make the No. 4 pick before the Cardinals change their mind.
With the Vikings ending up with McCarthy, Jeremiah has four quarterbacks coming off the board with the first four picks in this year's NFL Draft. Will this end up turning out to be what actually happens in April?