The Minnesota Vikings were one of the best teams in football this past season, as they were terrific on both sides of the ball en route to winning 14 games.
However, the Vikings were bounced from the wild-card round of the playoffs, putting a rather bleak end to what was an exciting campaign.
As good as Minnesota looked for most of 2024, it’s pretty clear the Vikings could use some upgrades. Lou Scataglia of The Viking Age has suggested a monster trade that would put Minnesota’s secondary over the top.
In Scataglia’s blockbuster idea, the Vikings would swing a trade for New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, widely viewed as one of the best defensive backs in football.
“New [Jets] GM Darren Mougey might feel more comfortable stocking up on NFL Draft picks to rebuild this Jets roster the way he sees fit rather than paying Gardner an amount at or above $30 million per year,” Scataglia wrote. “New York might not be in a position to be throwing a ton of money at a CB, as they have QB questions and some questions remaining along the offensive line that need answered. A major trade like this would shakeup the league for years to come, but the Jets are much farther away from contention than the Vikings are.”
Gardner wasn’t quite as good in 2024, registering 49 tackles, a sack, an interception and nine passes defended while posting a 73.1 coverage grade over at Pro Football Focus. That paled in comparison to his first two NFL seasons, where he led the league with 20 passes defended in 2022 and made back-to-back Pro Bowl appearances and All-Pro nods.
Not only that, but the former fourth overall pick recorded Pro Football Focus coverage grades of 90 and 90.8, respectively, in 2022 and 2023.
In spite of Gardner’s relatively down year this past season, he remains one of the top defenders in football and is still just 24 years old.
The Vikings were able to sign fellow cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. in free agency, and a Gardner-Murphy duo would almost certainly represent the best tandem in football.
Of course, whether or not the Jets would actually be open to trading Gardner is another story entirely, as he is still under team control for two more seasons.
