Movin’ on up … or at least trying! … For awhile now, the buzz around the NFL has been that Minnesota was poised to try and move up into the top 3-4 picks in this year’s draft in order to grab one of the top QBs that will be available on April 25th. Of course, that buzz reached a crescendo when the Vikings added a 2nd round opening round pick earlier this month in a trade with Houston. However, it now appears to be pretty clear that the Vikings aren’t alone in a desire to move up into range to select one of those QBs as both Denver and Las Vegas, which have the 12th and 13th picks overall right behind the Vikings at #11, have also indicated that they are also in the hunt. When asked about the possibility of moving way up in the draft, Denver’s Sean Payton, for example, answered that he thought ‘it was a realistic’ option for the Broncos who released Russell Wilson earlier this year and have nothing more than journeyman back-ups in their current QB room. At the same time, Vegas’ Antonio Pierce indicated that the Raiders were ‘prepared to do whatever it takes’ to get a quality. And what it likely is going to take to get up into that 3-4 range are a couple of future first round picks in 2025 and 2026. However, both the Broncos and Raiders appear to be prepared to at least consider that price as they have to do something at the position or face a decade of football irrelevancy as they compete in a division with both Patrick Mahomes AND Justin Herbert. For the record, both the Raiders and Broncos met privately with Jayden Daniels after the LSU pro day earlier this week and Denver also had a private workout with JJ McCarthy that included a 4-5 hour meeting after Michigan’s pro day. Of course, Minnesota is still very much in the running and may even have a heads up on the Broncos and Raiders as they have that extra pick this year; however, time will tell.
The team that may end up on the outside of all of this are the Giants who are looking for a quality long-term insurance policy for incumbent starter Daniel Jones, who is coming off a season marred by neck and knee injuries. The Giants have also been looking at the top QBs and were most likely hoping that one would still be available at their #6 pick, but that just doesn’t look like it is going to happen. The Giants likely would also have considered trading up several spots to get one of those QBs, but it also seems unlikely that they would be willing to part with a boatload of picks to get there. Indeed, the Giants made a rather startling u-turn yesterday when they headed out to Washington for Michael Penix’ pro day rather than going to North Carolina to see Drake Maye’s workout, although they will reportedly still have a private workout with him next week after doing the same with McCarthy over the weekend.
Bottom line: lots of moving parts and we are moving ever closer to that dreaded moment in the draft process when over-analysis does truly lead to paralysis! Hang in there. The draft is now just 27 days away!!
