VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the April 21st edition.
Purple Rumor Mill: J.J. McCarthy as the Pick, a Trade before Draft Night, CB in the Draft
Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.
Here’s the second batch of the week. Yesterday’s can be read here.
Rumor: The NFL draft community’s most accurate mock drafter claims Minnesota will pick J.J. McCarthy somewhere during the event on Thursday night.
Over the last five years, Brendan Donahue of Sharp Football Analysis has been the internet’s top mock drafter per accuracy. His working theory for this draft is McCarthy to the Minnesota Vikings via trade with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Donahue explained the McCarthy-to-Minnesota pick, “Based on the Pro Football Reference trade value chart, the two first-round picks that Minnesota currently holds at 11 and 23 can get them to five. This seems like the more likely scenario, as the Vikings will want to get in front of the Giants. The Vikings to be the team to draft McCarthy is favored at +115, and McCarthy to be selected 5th overall is +400 on BetMGM.”
Not only is this Donahue’s theory, this is arguably the most predicted outcome by Vikings fans. So, it’s time to warm up to real possibility of McCarthy in purple.
Rumor: ProFootballTalk.com just cannot give it a rest with Justin Jefferson trade theories.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reignited Jefferson-themed trade theories on Tuesday, suggesting the 2022 Offensive Player of the Year could be traded during the draft to the Washington Commanders or New England Patriots for a quarterback like LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
“The clock keeps ticking. The draft is coming. Could the end result be Jefferson plus the 11th pick to the Commanders for the Jayden Daniels pick? Jefferson plus No. 11 to the Patriots for No. 3? The Vikings can end that narrative by making the investment in Jefferson, now. Until they do, it’s possible that they’ll give up and trade him — and it’s definite that the price will keep increasing,” Florio wrote.
Jefferson is expected to break the bank before too long and become the wealthiest wide receiver in NFL history. He may even earn the largest paycheck for a non-quarterback ever. Stay tuned.
Florio added, “If they intend to pay him, what’s the delay? It won’t get cheaper over time. The best thing to do is to just do it now, make him happy, and move forward. And if, after months of negotiations, the Vikings realize they’re never going to make him happy, they need to send him to someone who will. The Vikings are clearly exasperated by the situation.”
We’ve maintained consistently that Jefferson won’t be traded, and we’re sticking to it.
Rumor: Minnesota could use one of its first few picks on a CB next weekend.
If you believe defensive coordinator Brian Flores, this one is correct.
“You can never have enough corners,” Flores told reporters this week. Mike Zimmer used that exact line for years in Minnesota, mainly because he believed they get injured too frequently.
Flores continued, “It’s a passing league. There’s a lot of great receivers, so you can never have enough. I think every team feels that way between the amount of receivers they can put on the field, attrition, injuries, you can never have enough good corners or really, good players throughout the roster.”
That sounds like a ringing endorsement for a CB somewhere in the draft.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.