As was reported earlier by the National Football Authority and then relayed by John Bena, the Browns and Vikings are apparently in talks for a trade, and this makes a ton of sense when you read between the lines here.
What is the Vikings’ main goal in the first round? Well, knowing how Rick Spielman works, this team is posturing itself for a multitude of trades. We all know the Vikings need a quarterback—could it be possible that they are posturing themselves to jump back into the first round and get a guy like Jake Locker or Ryan Mallett?
The trade in question had the Vikings receiving the 37th pick as well as a first round pick in 2012, and it might take an additional 3rd round pick in 2011 to actually get a deal like this done, but this is a deal the Vikings would love to make. In order to get the quarterback they want, they want to also dictate where they get him. Jake Locker and Ryan Mallett are both widely expected to be available in the later portion of the first round, and the Vikings could use those picks to move up and get one of them.
The Browns, on the other hand, could be trying to move up in front of a team like Cincinnati who has interest in taking A.J. Green with the fourth overall pick, and this trade gives them the ammunition to move up or stand pat and take two high level players. Two top 12 picks could really revamp their defensive front. Feasibly, the Browns could come away from a trade like this with Nick Fairley and Da’Quan Bowers, should they choose to go in that direction. That kind of move would give their defensive front hope for the future.
They could take it another direction and go with Peterson and Julio Jones like John said, or they could look to a multitude of players.
This would be a great trade for both squads, and could be just the beginning of a huge day of wheeling and dealing during the NFL Draft.