New Report Confirms Popular Vikings Draft Strategy (2025)

With just over one week to go until NFL commissioner Roger Goodell opens the first round of the NFL draft, the Vikings have only four draft picks in their arsenal, a much lower number than usual. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah could be tempted to add more firepower by facilitating a deal.

New Report Confirms Popular Vikings Draft Strategy

He is entering the draft with the 24th overall draft slot in his bag. His next selection won’t be until the end of the third round when he selects 97th.

Well, unless he finds a trade partner and trades out of that 24th spot. Tony Pauline, SportsKeeda, published his latest intel on Wednesday. Talking about the league’s trade-down candidates, he included the Vikings.

“Sources presently put the over/under on trades in the first round at three, a little more than a week away from the event. I’ve mentioned several times that I believe the Arizona Cardinals, who hold pick No. 16, could be a flashpoint for a team that wants to jump in front of the Cincinnati Bengals and draft an edge rusher.”

It only takes one team to fall in love with a certain player and a fear of missing out on that prospect.

“Yet people believe the Atlanta Falcons, the team selecting just ahead of the Cardinals, could be the spot teams jump up to. They point to the fact that the Falcons would be open to moving down as they own just five draft picks this year, including a pair in the final round, and they could still get a good frontline defensive player late in the first. The other team I’m told could be on the move downwards is the Minnesota Vikings.”

He didn’t provide any more context for the Vikings, but it’s pretty obvious that an organization with only four draft choices would be intrigued by the option to add a fifth and possibly a sixth draft pick.

While Pauline didn’t go into detail, PFF’s Trevor Sikkema did, suggesting the Vikings are the obvious trade-down team: “The Vikings are the most obvious trade-down candidate in the 2025 NFL Draft. They have only four draft picks: their own first- and third-rounders, Cleveland’s fifth-rounder and San Francisco’s sixth-rounder. Most importantly, they have their pick in the first round at No. 24 but then do not pick again until No. 97 in the third round.”

Ben Solak from ESPN assembled a list with the perfect draft scenarios for every franchise, and his Vikings recommendation also includes a trade. “I don’t think there’s a world in which the Vikings get an A without some substantial trading down. Minnesota has no second-, fourth- or seventh-round picks in this draft, and it is missing next year’s fourth and sixth as well.”

Everyone seems to agree that swapping pick 24 for two or more picks is a sensible path for the Vikings in the upcoming draft.

More complicated is the specific choice. Trading up or trading down doesn’t matter if the selected player ultimately isn’t any good. It doesn’t matter in the aftermath that Lewis Cine was drafted 32nd overall after a trade-down. His pick would’ve turned out to be bad at the original 12th overall pick and at 52, too. Likewise, nobody would care now if Justin Jefferson was acquired via trade-up into the top ten, costing the team a first-round pick.

For that reason, nailing the first pick is key for the Vikings, whether that will be at 24, in the 30s, or even later.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will oversee his fourth draft in charge of the Vikings, and because of recent misses, he is under pressure to land a contributor.