ESPN suggests 2 possible trades for the Vikings ahead of deadline
With a 1-4 start and Justin Jefferson on the injury table for the foreseeable future, the knives are out for the 2023 Vikings. Trade rumors and suggestions have been ripe over the past week and ESPN's Bill Barnwell added two suggestions to the mix for the Vikings.
Just a year after the Vikings received a game changing tight end from Detroit, the Vikings would send a game changing edge rusher to Detroit in this scenario in the first of two trade scenarios from Barnwell.
In Barnwell's trade the Vikings would send Danielle Hunter and a 2024 fourth-round pick to the Lions for edge rusher James Houston, a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 third-round pick.
Hunter is second in the league in sacks, 6.0, through five games but also on the final year of his deal. The 29-year-old pass rusher has racked up 77 sacks throughout his career and has proven he still has several good years left after injuries held him to just seven games in 2020 and 2021. A lack of a long-term deal has Hunter as an easy trade candidate for the Vikings.
Pairing Hunter with Aiden Hutchinson for the long-term seems less than ideal from a Vikings standpoint, but getting back Houston in return would seem to ease some of that impact. Houston totaled eight sacks in his rookie year after being drafted in the sixth-round by Detroit. The 24-year-olds second season hasn't gone well after being sidelined with a fractured right ankle in week two.
With Hunter in the prime of his career, he remains one of the hottest names on the trade market eighteen days out from the trade deadline. KSTP's Darren Wolfson reported in a recent interview on Skor North the Jacksonville Jaguars have "all sorts of interest" in the Vikings pass rusher.
The second trade idea from Barnwell sees Jordan Hicks going to the Bills in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round pick.
Hicks has been one of the few veteran presences on a young Vikings defense that has certainly showed its youth at times this season. The Bills meanwhile have lost linebacker Matt Milano to a season-ending injury and are on the lookout for a veteran in the middle of their defense.
"The 31-year-old Hicks has bounced around the league while starting for the Eagles, Cardinals and Vikings, giving him experience in a range of systems," writes Barnwell. "He's no match for Milano in coverage, but he is a sure tackler and an efficient run defender, something the Bills will need in their matchups within the AFC East down the stretch."
Moving on from Hicks would allow the Vikings to see what a middle-linebacker pairing of rookie-UDFA Ivan Pace Jr. and 2022 third-round pick Brian Asamoah II would look like.
