When the Minnesota Vikings completed a trade to acquire the No. 23 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, it became apparent that the team would very much consider packaging that with the No. 11 pick to move up and draft a quarterback. Former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman believes they will “overpay” to make a move up to select Michigan football quarterback JJ McCarthy.

“They're going to have to give [picks 11 and 23] and their 2025 first, plus some more draft capital,” Rick Spielman said, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “I think JJ will be a good pro, but Minnesota will overpay to get him. At this point, they don't have a choice.”

After losing Kirk Cousins to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, the Vikings brought in Sam Darnold, either to give a rookie some time to sit, or as an insurance plan in the event Minnesota is unable to come away with a quarterback in this draft.

With just a few weeks to go before the NFL Draft, it would be logical to assume that Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is going groundwork on potential trades, either to make one ahead of the draft, or have one lined up to happen based on how the draft order goes.

Who are the Vikings' potential trade partners?

The top three teams in the draft order are the Chicago Bears, Washington Commanders and New England Patriots. Those three teams need quarterbacks, and the general consensus is that Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels will be selected by those three teams, in some kind of order. There seems to be some buzz about JJ McCarthy potentially being selected ahead of Drake Maye, and while that is possible, it is not viewed as the most likely scenario.

There are four potential trade partners that have come up during recent months leading up to the draft, and those are the Patriots, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers and New York Giants. Two of those teams could be considered quarterback-needy in the Patriots and Giants, but it has been reported that there may be scenarios in which those teams trade back.

The Patriots seem likely to take a quarterback, but if they only like two of the quarterbacks out of the top four, and those get selected by the Bears and Commanders, maybe New England would take a haul of draft picks to fill out their roster, which is considered one of the worse in the league.

The Cardinals and Chargers are in similar situations. Both need wide receivers, and could justify sticking at fourth or fifth in the draft to select someone like Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers or Rome Odunze, but both teams could benefit from trading back to fill out other holes on the roster as well. This is a deep wide receiver class, so both teams could find a wide receiver at No. 11 or No. 23 in a trade with the Vikings.

The Giants are an interesting team, because they could be the Vikings' main competition in a potential trade up for JJ McCarthy. However, if the Giants do not like McCarthy, they could be a candidate for a trade back as well. This is especially the case if the Cardinals and Chargers decide they want to stay put to draft high-end wide receivers.

Regardless, the Vikings will have to give up a haul of picks to move up for a quarterback.