The Minnesota Vikings left many scratching their heads on Thursday night when they traded up one spot to select Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the 10th pick of the NFL Draft.
The Vikings entered the draft with the 11th pick. The New York Jets were 10th.
McCarthy was still available at No. 10, and the Jets clearly weren’t going to take him. They have Aaron Rodgers under center and were more interested in improving the roster around Rodgers rather than trying to find his eventual replacement.
So, when Minnesota eagerly moved up one slot, giving up extra draft capital simply to secure McCarthy, people were wondering why the Vikings didn’t stay put.
Well, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton revealed the reason for Minnesota’s zeal on Friday.
“I was actively involved in trying to pretend we were moving forward,” Payton said, via JPAFootball.
The Broncos were picking 12th and ended up selecting Oregon quarterback Bo Nix. Everyone knew Denver needed a signal-caller after it released Russell Wilson earlier this offseason, so the Vikings were obviously nervous that the Broncos would try to jump ahead of them to take McCarthy.
But why would Denver care about baiting Minnesota, a team that not only does not play in its division, but doesn’t even play in the same conference?
Well, perhaps the Broncos were more concerned about the Las Vegas Raiders, who picked 13th and were also rumored to be interested in trading up for a quarterback.
Clearly, Denver wanted Nix all along, so it could have been trying to trick the Raiders into giving up extra assets in order to move up for McCarthy. Las Vegas ended up taking Georgia tight end Brock Bowers.
Payton probably won’t reveal which team he was worried about, but it’s hard to imagine that the Broncos cared all that much about the Vikings.
Regardless, we now know why Minnesota moved up one pick to draft J.J. McCarthy.
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