The Piling on of the Vikings for Their Draft Moves Continues as We've Got Footage of Them Getting Laughed at in the Jets War Room, of All Places

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You would assume that, after Minnesota added the 23rd pick to go along with the 11th they already owned, the 2024 draft world would've been their oyster. That along with Chicago, as they say on the game shows, they were in control of the board. But it seems that's not how it worked out for the team Steven Cheah gave a B+ to. 

For starters, they reportedly make a paltry offer to New England of their top two picks for the 3rd pick, presumably hoping to get Drake Maye. But nothing doing there:

Then Sean Payton claimed he Rope-a-Doped the Vikings just to make a trade they didn't need to:

But the hits just keep right on coming for them. Because thanks to team cameras inside the Jets war room, we have video confirmation Minnesota absolutely, positively did not need to give up any draft capital to get JJ McCarthy, the quarterback they were looking force to settle for:

To make this clear, in order to move up from 11 to 10, the Vikings sent Nos. 129 and 157 to New York, and got back just the 203rd. Just to slide up one spot, ahead of a team that zero intention of taking the QB the Vikings were after. 

Were this any other trading partner, you might be able to justify spending all that draft capital. Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do, especially when you're in desperate straits and don't have a franchise QB any more. But getting laughed at by the Jets? The franchise that became synonymous with terrible war room decisions about 40 drafts ago? Because they know they swindled you? It doesn't get any more degrading and humiliating than that. It's the NFL front office equivalent of ripped off by your friend who gets taken by 3-Card Monte dealers on the street. It's finding out you've got less business sense than your aunt who sent money to a Nigerian prince. 

I mean, 90% of running your draft is anticipating what the teams directly in front and in back of you intend to do. The former, so you can be ready to leapfrog ahead of them in case you're both after the same guy. And the latter, to gauge whether you can afford to drop back a few spots and still get your man. Bill Belichick said on Pat McAfee's that having that info in 2023 allowed him to drop down, add a pick, and still land his target, Christian Gonzalez. 

Which leads me to how the Vikings should've known the Jets were going with OT Olu Fashanu. Because Belichick robbed them of the chance to get the OT they wanted last year:

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He ripped the Jets off by making sure his trading partner would take their target, Broderick Jones. A year later, the Jets rip Minnesota off while filling their blatantly obvious need the entire league knew they were going to have to fill. With the exception of the Vikings, obviously. Making them not just suckers, but suckers' suckers. 

Minny may have had a terrific draft and bounce back from a 7-10, no problem. But getting outsmarted by the J-E-T-S on draft day is something no one can recover from.