Trade Deadline

If I thought the Wilfs would upgrade the GM or at least bring in a draft and scouting manager then yes, im looking to shop a few players that I dont think will still be in a prime or even productive in year or two. Hockenson comes to mind, his contract doesn't fit his use/performance. A first for Addison, yes. If we are just giving KAM more shells for a faulty gun then no.

The Detroit game will have a lot to say about whether the Vikings are buyer or sellers. Personally, I don't think they make a move at all. We likely won't be buyers because this isn't a "piece missing" team. It's a talented team that needs to get its shit together. We likely won't be sellers because of the message that would send to players like Justin Jefferson. 

An either outstanding or horrible performance by JJ McCarthy in Detroit could change that.

Lets look at the bigger picture. The drafting total sucks a$$.. however wins/losses culture coaching UFA seem to be at a high level. Im not happy or defending Kwesi but if I look around the league lots of struggling going on in the NFL.

Jets
Carolina
Saints
Dolphins
Bears
Arizona
Giants
Vegas
Jacksonville
Houston
Browns
Titans
Bengals (despite the talent)
maybe the Falcons, Patriots and Cowboys

So in comparison the Vikings seems to still be above average over the past 10 years.

Not saying keep the status quo but outside of a few teams Packers, Steelers, 49ers, Ravens and Eagles all other franchises seem to live and die by the good head coach and a top QB. I believe KOC has got the goods. Just need an above average QB and things will take care of themselves.

I think they sit.

No one game is going to change them.

Not expecting anything but coach speak the rest of the year from KOC and nothing at all from the GM till after the season ends....

I just dont trust KAM with all the picks we have next season. ITs a critical draft because of how bad the FA's of last year were and how abysmal the drafts have been for too long.

The guy has to go imo and scouting leadership needs to change with him.

Good teams have a symmetry across functions, a beautiful dance amongst them. That aint happening in Eagan and the buc stops with the GM.

Don't think this is a national broadcast game. I am in Eastern Iowa and I know my fox affiliate will show the Packer game. UGH!

I think a lot of what you do is based off, how well you think individual guys are performing and where you can get them to be in the next couple of games. In an ideal season, JJM would have been hitting his stride and we would have been ironing out wrinkles in other areas. Obviously, due to injuries, where does that leave us? We’re not too far off the pace to make the playoffs, record-wise, but we can’t stack too many more losses before it’s too much and we’re just out. We still have some more learning experience games for JJM to play through. If Hargrave and Allen are just washed, well just call it a season. If simple tweaks can get them playing well, keep going.

I don’t see us trading for any other players … unless … we can pick up a relatively cheap but decent NT.

I don’t see us trading Hockenson. He’s our only TE right now. He’s at his lowest value right now. His receiving production is low, mainly due to bad QB play and having to chip every play. There’s no 5th round pick that will replace what he brings to the offense in this pivotal timeframe in JJM’s development.

Trading Addison would be dumb. He’s a great receiver with a low cost, that we have under contract for a couple years. You have to milk that cheap contract for longer before trading him. Chances are whatever player you get in the first will be worse than him. If you are a person that thinks KAM sucks at drafting, trading his only good draft pick, with the likely outcome of having less good players and the new player costs the same as Addison, like what would be the point of that? Literally, the only scenario I would consider trading Addison for this year is to a bad team that would be drafting top 5 and you’re hoping to draft another QB with that pick.

I don’t know who else on our team is tradeable. Probably Hargrave is the closest one. Maybe LDR if he doesn’t fit into the long term plans?

I honestly don't think we have many guys outside of our "untradables" that anybody would want. Addison is the one guy I think we will get a few calls on. I think the Vikings would probably like to re-sign him, but do we want to end up like the Bengals having huge cap money tied up on two receivers? And can they trust him is the other big question. I'll throw out a team that would likely call and that's Pittsburgh. I don't expect the Vikings to trade him now when they are trying to develope and see what they have in a young quarterback, but if they offered a 1st round pick it might cause them to think about it

Greylock wrote:
Don't think this is a national broadcast game.  I am in Eastern Iowa and I know my fox affiliate will show the Packer game.  UGH!

Kam will make moves, natives are g getting restless.

My guess is the Vikings will be sellers more than buyers, the dough didn't rise this year.

Wildcard playoff victory is still the goal for me. Until eliminated, they're still in it

If we are buyers, a guy I'd like to see them acquire is Michael Mayer from the Raiders. The TE position has been so underwhelming this season and teams literally know what we are doing depending on if we have Hock or Oliver in the game. Hock is the only real receiving threat between the two and if he goes down we are screwed. If we don't upgrade the position at the deadline, earmark it for upgrade this offseason..

The stats Sticky showed are beyond indefensible. If you are the Wilfs, how can you allow this to continue to happen. This franchise is being totally destroyed and will take years to make up for all of the poor drafting. I think it would make sense to look at making some trades that could help us next year as I do not see this year going anywhere, however we are likely to waste them anyways, just more draft day frustration of watching us get abused by other teams in trades only to then reach on our picks.

JR44 wrote:
The stats Sticky showed are beyond indefensible.  If you are the Wilfs, how can you allow this to continue to happen.  This franchise is being totally destroyed and will take years to make up for all of the poor drafting.  I think it would make sense to look at making some trades that could help us next year as I do not see this year going anywhere, however we are likely to waste them anyways, just more draft day frustration of watching us get abused by other teams in trades only to then reach on our picks.

Lol well imagine being me who said this exact thing would happen when we hired Mensah on day one and seeing it play out. I was blasted by just about everyone on this board who thought it was some brilliant "outside the box" hire by the Wilfs. Just because you are the smartest guy in the room doesn't mean you know shit about football, and Kwesi knew about stock trading, spreadsheets, and making sure the hotdog cart was filled up for game day...but nothing in his background qualified him to be making important personnel and draft day decisions for an NFL franchise. Its like slow torture at the hands of the Wilfs being a fan of this franchise.

From ESPN today..

Notable trade candidates: RB Aaron Jones Sr., LB Ivan Pace Jr.

Down their fourth-round pick in next year's draft (but with a third-round compensatory pick on the way and handful of late-round picks to make up for it), the Vikings might also want to follow in Houston's footsteps to make up for some of the aggressive moves they made in the past. The Vikings had only five picks in 2025, and at 3-4, they haven't looked like a team that can make a deep playoff push this season.

They're too thin at LB and RB to trade anyone this year from those position groups. Plus they'll want to keep Jones as a weapon for JJM.

I think the team holds serve and wont do anything till off-season

My hope is they bring in new GM/Scouting leadership. My expectation is everyone gets another year barring a complete off-rails 10 game collapse.

purplefaithful wrote:
They're too thin at LB and RB to trade anyone this year from those position groups. Plus they'll want to keep Jones as a weapon for JJM.

I think the team holds serve and wont do anything till off-season

My hope is they bring in new GM/Scouting leadership.  My expectation is everyone gets another year barring a complete off-rails 10 game collapse.

I concur with the earlier thought that how we play Sunday could impact just how active we are before the trade deadline on Tuesday. We get curbstomped against the knee biters, it might change opinions on some players they weren't originally planning to move. Tons of intrigue with this game and it's impact on our season. 

Agree on the front office leadership. This season goes off the rails, how can the Wilfs justify keeping it status quo after spending almost 300 million on free agent contracts and the draft results being what they've been? They'd look like bigger fool's than giving Mensah the keys to the kingdom in the first place.

StickierBuns wrote:
But what would we do with any picks if we got them? I'm really not here to shit on everything, as it seems many fans are losing it and the walls are tumbling down, drama, etc. but this guy's record with draft picks is beyond abysmal. 

First off, @meatsauce1 is freaking hilarious.

Secondly, with those stats, it's surprising that he was extended.  I recognize his job is more than just the draft, but wowsa that is bad data...especially for a data guy.  It would have been amazing if the Wilfs brought that data into their negotiation meetings with Kwesi and asked him to sell it.

While you take a risk in FA, I do believe Kwesi did a good job of bringing players in to compete day 1 in '25.  It's the responsibilty of the players and the coaches to execute from that point and so far, several of them have underperformed.

Like others, I think Hock is on the short list of possible player moves, but with Oliver hurt as well as Bart, I don't see it happening.  I don't us moving on Addison, but Nailer is a possibility.

IMO TJH is taking one for the team by being asked to block so much...I think we can look to draft a TE next year, but I'd tread lightly with Hock for now.

My gut says his production drop-off is how he is being used as much or more than anything. Might be plenty of gas in tank and burst in the step. We're just not privy to it much.

purplefaithful wrote:
IMO TJH is taking one for the team by being asked to block so much...I think we can look to draft a TE next year, but I'd tread lightly with Hock for now.

My gut says his production drop-off is how he is being used as much or more than anything. Might be plenty of gas in tank and burst in the step. We're just not privy to it much.

It’s possible, but man, he looks like he’s running in slow motion half the time.  By the time he finishes his route and turns his head, the ball’s already in the next zip code.  He’s out there moving like he’s in a race with a sloth...and losing.  His hands look like they’ve got lead weights strapped on; every catch attempt feels a second late.  That diving end zone grab was the only flash of vintage TJ we’ve seen all season.

IceRatz16 wrote:

It’s possible, but man, he looks like he’s running in slow motion half the time.  By the time he finishes his route and turns his head, the ball’s already in the next zip code.  He’s out there moving like he’s in a race with a sloth...and losing.  His hands look like they’ve got lead weights strapped on; every catch attempt feels a second late.  That diving end zone grab was the only flash of vintage TJ we’ve seen all season.

It's entirely possible the Kirby Joseph cheap shot to the knee a couple years ago took away some of his overall speed and quickness. It's also possible that our problems on offense that have hampered everyone else have effected him and his overall production. 

On that note, if any of our lineman want to go low on Kirby Joseph on Sunday, it sure would put a smile on my face.

purplefaithful wrote:
IMO TJH is taking one for the team by being asked to block so much...I think we can look to draft a TE next year, but I'd tread lightly with Hock for now.

My gut says his production drop-off is how he is being used as much or more than anything. Might be plenty of gas in tank and burst in the step. We're just not privy to it much.

He's cooked mate

supafreak84 wrote:

It's entirely possible the Kirby Joseph cheap shot to the knee a couple years ago took away some of his overall speed and quickness. It's also possible that our problems on offense that have hampered everyone else have effected him and his overall production. 

On that note, if any of our lineman want to go low on Kirby Joseph on Sunday, it sure would put a smile on my face.