This Team Reportedly Offered Patriots Three First-Round Picks For Drake Maye
The Minnesota Vikings shockingly fired their general manager, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, on Friday, and a potential trade with the New England Patriots could have saved his job.
According to a report from NFL insider Albert Breer, the Vikings offered the Patriots the Nos. 11 and 23 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft and their first-round pick in 2025 in exchange for the No. 3 overall pick, where they were targeting Drake Maye.
“The Vikings offered the 11th and 23rd picks in 2024, and their 2025 first-round pick to the Patriots for the third pick,” wrote Breer on Sunday. “They LOVED Drake Maye. New England wouldn’t budge. But if a team sitting at 3 would have, this probably looks different.”
The Vikings came up one spot from pick No. 11 to select J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season. Last season, McCarthy was not great, and once again dealt with injuries. Meanwhile, Maye and the Patriots are getting ready for the Super Bowl.
Of the first-round quarterbacks in 2024, McCarthy currently looks like the weakest link. Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Maye and Michael Penix have all shown flashes of being solid players. Additionally, none of them have the benefit of McCarthy’s situation.
To make matters even worse, the quarterback the Vikings let walk to hand the keys to McCarthy was Sam Darnold, who has the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
McCarthy inherited a team that went 14-3 in 2024 with Kevin O’Connell at head coach and Darnold at quarterback. He also has Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison to throw to. Meanwhile, the other first-round quarterbacks were selected by rebuilding teams.
The Patriots rebuild, if it can even be called that, has gone smoothly and quickly. Mike Vrabel has changed the culture and thankfully he had his quarterback in place when he got to New England.
If the Patriots had accepted the Vikings trade in 2024, they may have beeen scouting first-round quarterbacks instead of preparing for the Seahawks right now.