Report: Only QB Vikings Would've Traded Up For Was Bryce Young

According to Tom Pelissero, the Vikings only considered moving up for one quarterback, but he went first overall.

Heading into this year's NFL draft, there was a ton of buzz around the possibility of the Vikings making an aggressive trade up for one of the top quarterbacks. With Kirk Cousins' contract expiring after this season, a move like that would've allowed the Vikings to find their QB of the future one year ahead of time.

There were rumors about the Vikings and Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, and even Hendon Hooker. Most of that, it turns out, was completely baseless. Richardson went fourth overall to the Colts, but the Vikings passed on both Levis and Hooker with the 23rd pick.

"There were all those draft rumors," NFL Network's Tom Pelissero said on The Pat McAfee Show. "Half of those are just completely wrong. A lot of the stuff with the Vikings trading up for the quarterbacks was proven wrong. Will Levis was sitting there when the Vikings' pick came up at No. 23 and they didn't take him."

Levis ended up going to the Titans in the second round. Hooker fell to the Lions in the third round. And the Vikings did add a quarterback, but it wasn't until the fifth round when they selected BYU's Jaren Hall.

Pelissero did say that the Vikings were looking into moving all the way up near the top of the draft for a QB — but also that it would've only been for one player, the guy who was taken with the first overall pick.

"They were making calls about moving up very high in the draft, but my understanding is that was for one player and that was Bryce Young, who ended up going No. 1, and so there went any possibility for Minnesota to go get him."

Young went to the Panthers, where he'll throw passes to former Vikings star Adam Thielen. The Vikings will head into the 2023 season with Cousins as their starter — and they'll cross the bridge of finding out who their 2024 quarterback will be when they come to it.

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