The Minnesota Vikings are considered one of the top teams to watch in the first round of the NFL Draft later this month, as they are expected to make a big trade.

Count ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. as the latest person to predict the Vikings to make a move early in the draft, as he has Minnesota trading with the Los Angeles Chargers for the fifth overall pick in his latest’s mock draft.

Kiper projects that the Vikings will take University of Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the selection.

Minnesota owns the 11th and 23rd overall picks in the draft, and the general consensus is that the Vikings will try and package those picks to move up in the order to take a signal-caller.

Kiper has Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye all going in the top three, which would make McCarthy the fourth quarterback selected if this scenario occurs.

Minnesota reportedly likes McCarthy, so it’s no surprise that Kiper is predicting that the Vikings will take him if they are able to trade up.

McCarthy just won a national championship at Michigan this past season and threw for 2,991 yards, 22 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 72.3 percent of his passes.

While many have pointed out McCarthy’s physical limitations, others have fallen in love with his intangibles and think he may end up being one of the best players from this draft class.

Minnesota is in need of a quarterback after seeing Kirk Cousins walk to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency. The Vikings did sign Sam Darnold, but he is nothing more than a backup or a bridge starter at best at this point of his career.

We’ll see if Minnesota does what most are expecting and makes a significant move in the draft a couple of weeks from now.

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