We are not quite 48 hours into the 2026 offseason in the National Football League, and we already have our first idiotic Minnesota Vikings trade rumor centered around the guy that most idiotic trade rumors concerning the Minnesota Vikings seem to center around.
Over at CBS Sports, Jordan Daijani has put up ten crazy predictions for the 2026 offseason, and right up at the very top of the list is the speculation that the Vikings will trade wide receiver Justin Jefferson to the Buffalo Bills for a “package of picks.”
We haven’t even hit Valentine’s Day, and I’m already tired of this.
Let’s ignore the fact that if the Vikings were to trade Jefferson, they would have to eat a $46 million dead cap hit, as though that wouldn’t be reason enough to dismiss the idea of a trade entirely. For starters, there isn’t a compelling enough package of picks or players, short of multiple first-round picks and then some, that the Bills (or any other team) could offer that would even begin to move the needle on a potential Jefferson trade. There just isn’t.
Seriously, what are the Bills offering in this “package of picks” that’s going to make Rob Brzezinski say, “Wow, that sounds like a really great deal! That’s definitely worth pissing off the entire fan base for! Let’s call this into the league office before the Bills change their minds!”
Nothing, that’s what.
Then there’s what Jefferson means to the Vikings on and off the field. He’s the face of the franchise, he’s been nothing but outstanding even in the face of the team’s struggles this season, and he’s still on a very short list of the best receivers in the NFL. Without Jefferson, the Vikings’ wide receiver corps is basically Jordan Addison, who’s one 3:00 AM drive away from a lengthy suspension, and. . .ummmmm. . .I don’t know, Tai Felton, I guess?
Gonna try to keep developing J.J. McCarthy? Yeah, you’re gonna want Justin Jefferson here.
Want to try to attract a solid veteran option in free agency? Yeah, you’re gonna want Justin Jefferson here.
Is Kevin O’Connell planning on keeping his job past this season? Yeah, he’s gonna want Justin Jefferson here.
There is literally nothing about a potential Justin Jefferson trade that makes any sense in any way, shape, or form for the Minnesota Vikings on any level. Not from a football perspective, not from a money perspective, and not from a public relations perspective. But that’s not going to stop folks from trying to project one anyway.
I say this every time one of the Really Smart Football People™ brings up the idea of the Vikings dealing Jefferson away. It’s got to be exhausting for them to try to find ways or excuses to get Jefferson off of the Vikings and on to one of the seven or eight NFL teams they actually care about. Regardless of what the situation with the Vikings has been during his career, Jefferson has never once given any indication that he’s wanted out of Minnesota. Not while his camp was working out a contract extension with the Vikings, not while he was hurt in 2023, not when the offense was struggling this past season. He’s been the absolute definition of leadership and class through all of it.
If people in the media are going to suggest that the Vikings are going to trade their franchise player for several piles of garbage and a handful of magic beans, they should at least give some sort of reasoning as to why the Vikings would be compelled to make that kind of a move. I’m sure this won’t be the last one of these we see this offseason, but since it’s the first one, I’m planting the flag and getting this out of the way early.
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