The buzz all off-season has been on the Minnesota Vikings potentially shopping two key players: running back Dalvin Cook and edge rusher Za’Darius Smith.
While Day 3 of the NFL Draft seemed like a likely time for them to be moved, Albert Breer of The MMQB reports that significant hurdles are preventing such a move from occurring.
According to Breer, the Vikings are listening to offers on Cook and Smith, but both would require contract adjustments before being traded. The problem is that adjusted contracts have to “sit a day before they’re traded.”
As a result, the Vikings would not be able to get any 2023 draft picks and would have to receive 2024 selections in any trade.
• The Vikings will listen on Dalvin Cook and Za'Darius Smith. The problem is both will require contract adjustments to be traded. Revised deals have to sit a day before they're traded. So it'd be '24 picks for them.
• The Titans had a really cool process in vetting Levis …
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 29, 2023
The Vikings are currently $1 million under the cap ceiling, meaning there’s little room to work with. This also means that the Vikings will have to make a move to sign their draft class and have some cap space for the regular season.
That situation has made Cook or Smith a likely trade target because both can be moved with a limited amount of dead cap on the contract.