NFL Draft Rumors: How the Minnesota Vikings could shake up the 2024 NFL Draft

Are the Minnesota Vikings preparing to make a splash in the 2024 NFL Draft?  If they are, they can change the direction of a couple of NFL teams and not just their own direction.

Ever since Kirk Cousins left in free agency and the team acquired an additional first round picks, rumors have been flying that the team is prepping to move further up in the draft to select one of the top signal callers.  The common names are Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy. 

Will the Minnesota Vikings make a splash in the 2024 NFL Draft?

If the Vikings can move as far up as No. 3, suddenly the New England Patriots would need to rethink their strategy or change direction.

But would one team in desperate need of a QB give up a shot at one of the top signal callers in the 2024 NFL Draft to help out another team?  Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will be trying.  That’s all you can ask of a GM right?

"We want to make sure that we set ourselves up for a potential better look if a team picks up the phone because they don't have to pick up the phone," Adofo-Mensah during a Thursday news conference. "But we also want to set ourselves up for being in a really good situation if they don't and we pick great players. Again, I know we talk about quarterback a lot -- it is the most important position in our sport, but it's the most important position in a team sport. It's not just getting the quarterback right; it's getting the quarterback right and the team around it.

"So, we look at this decision, if you look at our offseason in a sense, it's kind of the go-between between quarterback assets and everything else. I think that our draft will follow the same suit. I don't think you want to necessarily go take these huge swings and not be able to build a team around them. You'll be in a different, but still not in the place you want to be. So, I think that's kind of how we look at that decision."

The Vikings could luck out and have McCarthy slide to No. 11.  If they don’t, the two first round picks will allow them to upgrade other areas of need at their natural spot, while perhaps setting their sights on a QB talent like Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr. with that No. 23 pick.

Additionally, with the signing of Sam Darnold this offseason, the Vikings at least have a plan in place in case the top QBs are off the board.  But that flexibility also gives them an opportunity to take a major risk in this draft.  If they rattle the NFL draft board and end up with Maye, Adofo-Mensah would be considered a genius.  If they don’t find a way to land a QB, Vikings fans will need to prepare themselves that its okay as the team will draft players of need.

"There's multiple guys that we're in love with just on an outright basis, but there's also other guys that we're in love with given what -- if we get them at a certain value -- what they'd also be able to come with," Adofo-Mensah said. "As I talked about earlier skill set wise, if you're talking about the ability to overcome context, well, if the guy has less ability but we have assets to go get somebody that's not going to put him that situation, those things add up too."

It kind of feels like he is talking about a player like McCarthy there based on his leadership and accuracy as a quarterback, but there are several players and not just QBs he could be referring to.  But no matter what the Vikings do, they hold the cards shakeup the draft quite a bit as the direction of teams involved in a possible deal like the Patriots, Arizona Cardinals (No. 4) and Los Angeles Chargers (No. 5) could shift where and when other top prospects are taken in the draft.