When teams identify a player that they want in the NFL Draft, they will often do whatever it takes to go and get that player. For the Minnesota Vikings, they knew they wanted a top quarterback. They tried to get Drake Maye from North Carolina, but nobody was willing to accept a trade to move back to 11th overall.
The Vikings did strike a deal with the New York Jets to acquire the 10th overall pick by sending picks 129 and 156 while also getting back 203 to go and select quarterback J.J. McCarthy. They weren't the only team to try and get the 10th overall pick, as the Los Angeles Rams were aggressive in trying to acquire the pick.
Los Angeles Rams knew the Minnesota Vikings loved J.J. McCarthy
They initially offered picks 19 and 52 to the Jets to move up and later included 99 with 185 coming back to the Rams.
That's a significant amount of capital offered by the Rams, who were thought be targeting Georgia tight end Brock Bowers. They eventually ended up staying at 19th overall and selecting Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse.
One of the interesting things about the video above is that the Rams ended up calling the Vikings to see if they would be willing to trade down. Rams general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay explicitly mentioned the Vikings liking McCarthy as they discussed calling them about the 11th overall pick.
It's always fascinating to see the interworkings of the NFL Draft and how much each team knows about other's draft plans.
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