All the reports out of Minnesota suggest that the Vikings have three players they’re considering with the third overall pick: USC left tackle Matt Kalil, Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon and LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. If the Vikings have equal grades on all three guys, the perfect scenario would be to trade down just far enough that they can be sure they’ll get one of those three.
A trade with the Buccaneers would be just the deal to do that.
Alabama running back Trent Richardson appears to be a player the Bucs, with the fifth overall pick, absolutely love. But he also appears to be a player the Browns, with the fourth overall pick, absolutely love. And so a Bucs-Vikings trade is the only way for the Bucs to get ahead of the Browns and get Richardson. According to Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that’s exactly what the Buccaneers are considering: Jumping up two spots and taking Richardson before the Browns can get a chance at him.
That would likely leave the Browns taking Claiborne, and then the Vikings would still get their pick of Kalil or Blackmon. If the Vikings got Kalil, the man they’ve been projected to get all along, and also got an extra pick later in the draft from the Buccaneers to move down, that would be a great piece of draft-day deal-making. What we don’t know is whether the Bucs really love Richardson enough that they’re willing to give up a later pick just to move up two spots. But if they do, the Vikings could get their man, and get something more.