The Minnesota Vikings had only five rostered wide receivers after final cuts, so the writing was on the wall for a move to add another receiver.
On Wednesday afternoon, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah makes his third trade in the last 24 hours in acquiring Jalen Reagor.
The #Vikings gave up a 2023 7th round pick that they got from Houston yesterday and a 2024 conditional 4th. https://t.co/gOQMxkMMDX
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 31, 2022
The third-year wide receiver from TCU was selected one pick before the Vikings picked Justin Jefferson in the 2020 NFL draft. He has had his share of struggles with the Eagles, especially with drops and getting open with route running.
What makes this intriguing for the Vikings is two-fold. One is the iconic image of the former regime Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer laughing at the Eagles for taking Reagor over Jefferson. The other is Adofo-Mensah’s Moneyball approach.
He gets an athletic and dynamic former first-round pick at a discount. Reagor will count $1.8 million towards the salary cap in 2022 and $2.4 million in 2023.
The price itself is a steep one. Not only is it a seventh-round pick in 2023 but a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick that could become a fourth if certain statistical conditions are met.
If this works out for the Vikings, they get a speedy running mate for Jefferson to replace Thielen. If it doesn’t, the potential for memes will be boundless and plentiful.
This is Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s world, we are just living in it.
