With a general manager and head coach search ongoing, the Minnesota Vikings are entering a new era. A new general manger and head coach deserve a chance at developing a new roster with young players. The Vikings’ current roster has some veteran talent that could draw a decent price in the trade market. While saying goodbye to these players would be painful, it would allow the Minnesota Vikings to amass draft capital to rebuild their roaster for future seasons. There are 3 very talented veterans that the Vikings should look to trade this off season.
Harrison Smith
Harrison Smith is a potential hall of fame safety. Smith recently signed a contract extension making him the second highest paid safety in the league. The extension seemed to make sense with Zimmer as the head coach. Over the past 2 years, Smith has been the foundation of an often under performing defense. However, Smith’s age is concerning. If Harrison Smith plays through his contract extension, he’ll be 36 by the time that it ends. The identity of this team could also very well change. Under a new head coach, the Vikings will likely switch to an offensive identity considering the direction the NFL is heading.
Harrison Smith has undoubtedly been an elite safety during his tenure as a Viking. He’s been a stalwart of the Mike Zimmer era. However, the Mike Zimmer era is over. The Minnesota Vikings need a new identity. Harrison Smith is the 5th highest paid Vikings currently. The question has to be asked about how important Smith’s impact actually is. Despite Smith being an elite defensive player, the Minnesota Vikings’ defense has been abysmal the last 2 seasons. Smith is still talented and would likely get the Vikings high draft capital. Trading Smith makes to much sense considering his age and the potential to get young talent.
Adam Thielen
Adam Thielen is a top receiver in the NFL and is a home grown talent. Thielen has consistently given Kirk Cousins a reliable second target and always finishes with decent stats. With number like these, it seems justifiable keeping Thielen. However, Thielen has had some issues staying healthy the last few years. Thielen has missed time in 2019 and 2021 due to injury. As Thielen gets older, this will likely continue to be an issue. The Vikings are also currently stacked with young receivers. With a corp of up and coming young talent, keeping Thielen around makes less sense.
After only his 2nd year, Justin Jefferson is emerging as one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. KJ Osborn has shown flashes of elite talent. Irv Smith Jr. will soon return from injury and Tyler Conklin showed this season he’s worth keeping around. Ihmir Smith-Marsette also stands a chance at a breakout season. This offense is stacked with young talent. Considering that, Thielen’s role seems unclear. Thielen also takes up a large chunk of Minnesota’s cap space. Trading Thielen would give the Vikings wiggle room to sign offensive linemen, which has been Minnesota’s biggest deficiency for years.
Dalvin Cook
Dalvin Cook is an undoubtedly elite running back. His recent 205 yard game against the Steelers this year proves just that. Cook has finished with over 1,000 yards every season since 2019. However, this year it was feast or famine with Cook. After an early season injury, Cook noticeably slowed down. That’s the issue with Cook. He’s injured every season and inevitably misses a stretch of games every year. Despite that, he accounts for a large portion of Minnesota’s salary.
Dalvin Cook is one of the highest paid running backs in the NFL. When he’s healthy, he earns that contract. The issue is he misses around 5 or 6 games a season. The other issue is that the Minnesota Vikings have an elite running back corp. Alexander Mattison has had big games when he’s filled in for Cook. Kene Nwangu has also shown flashes, in 2 punt return touchdowns in the 2021 season. Running back is one of the easiest positions to replace. The Vikings already have 2 potential replacements on their roster. Trading Cook would free up some of Minnesota’s salary and would get potentially top draft picks, considering Cook’s talent.
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