During the first night of the draft, we caught wind of something that ultimately couldn’t be sufficiently confirmed to become an official PFT blurb.
As the unconfirmed rumor went, the Vikings were trying to trade up to No. 5 with the Chargers. With the goal of cutting the line in front of the Giants. With the goal of taking not a quarterback, but LSU receiver Malik Nabers.
It would have massive implications, since it would have given the Vikings a trio of first-round receivers, and no clear-cut answer at quarterback. Again, we never were able to nail it down. (I mentioned it during one of the draft-night videos, after news of the effort made its way to PFT HQ.) On Sunday, near the bottom of a Sunday column from Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press covering multiple aspects and angles of Minnesota, appears a stunning blurb.
“Pssst,” Waters writes. “There was buzz at draft time that the Vikings wanted to move from No. 11 to No. 5, not to pick a quarterback but to get LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was picked No. 6 by the Giants. Had that trade occurred, Jefferson would have been traded and Nabers would have been the No. 1 receiver.”
That’s the kind of nugget that would be far more credible if it were the subject of a standalone article that fully and completely fleshed out the situation. That said, the Pioneer Press surely has editorial standards that would have compelled them to have a level of comfort before allowing such a consequential assertion to be printed.
The first part of the report is equivocal, citing “buzz” that the Vikings “wanted” to make the move to No. 5. The back end is unequivocal and clear: “Had that trade occurred, Jefferson would have been traded.”
“Big if true,” as some like to say. In this specific case, it’s massive if true. Not just because it speaks to an alternative universe that nearly happened, but because Jefferson remains a Vikings and continues to not have a new deal.
Until he does, anything can happen. He can sign a new contract. He can be traded. The Vikings can play the “you’re under contract” game for 2024, kick the can to 2025, and apply the franchise tag and figure it out then.
Regardless, his long-term future can’t and won’t be secured until a deal is done. As we said earlier this week on PFT Live (the clip is attached), the team is sending mixed signals about their intentions with Jefferson, proclaiming to the world on one hand that they’re keeping him while on the other hand watching his price go up and up and up as other receivers not named Justin Jefferson sign bigger and bigger deals.