Minnesota Vikings: Evaluating the 2020 trade deadline

With the NFL trade deadline passed, let’s look back at what Minnesota Vikings did.

Going into Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, many thought the Minnesota Vikings would be a team that would turn into sellers before the day passed along and while moves were being made around the league.

As the deadline passed, Minnesota remained quiet at the deadline and only ended up making one trade leading up to Tuesday. In late October, the Vikings traded away defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens just six weeks after Minnesota traded for Ngakoue in exchange for a few draft picks sent to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Vikings ended up getting a 2021 third-round draft pick and a 2022 conditional fifth-round draft pick from the Ravens in exchange for Ngakoue.

When that move occurred and the fact Minnesota was entering into a bye week at the time in Week 7, some anticipated that the purple and gold would start selling off some players to create some cap space and focus more on the future beyond this year.

How did the Minnesota Vikings fare at the NFL trade deadline?

Approaching Tuesday’s deadline, you thought the Vikings would likely trade away some familiar faces on the team and some veteran players that would create some valuable cap space on the team moving forward. Those players included the likes of tight end Kyle Rudolph, safety Anthony Harris and offensive tackle Riley Reiff, among others.

Instead, Minnesota held steady at the deadline following an upset win in Week 8 over the Green Bay Packers, moving the team to a record of 2-5 overall on the year.

Although the Vikings were quiet at the deadline on Tuesday, they reportedly did inquire about a player to help out on the back end of the defense, according to former ESPN NFL reporter and current Minneapolis Star Tribune writer Ben Goessling.

Goessling reported after the deadline passed that Minnesota had “preliminary discussions” with the Philadelphia Eagles surrounding a deal involving safety Will Parks.

Parks, who is in his fifth season in the NFL and first with the Eagles following his first four seasons coming with the Denver Broncos, was a player Minnesota showed interest in during free agency this offseason and could be a name to continue to watch this coming offseason, according to Goessling.

Overall, the Vikings surprised some by not making any moves at the trade deadline, especially considering Minnesota appears to be on the outside looking in when it comes to a potential playoff run while sitting three games under .500 going into Week 9 of the regular season this weekend.

At the end of the day, no moves outside of the Ngakoue trade doesn’t necessarily hurt the Vikings this season or beyond, but it might just mean Minnesota ends up letting a few players walk this offseason while not getting anything in return for them.