The Wild Adventure of a Vikings Pick: Tracking the Plentiful Twists, Turns, and Trades

Before a Vikings pick gets used, there can be a long series of twists and turns.

Indeed, one need to look no further than offensive tackle Vederian Lowe — a pick from the now-infamous 2022 draft class — for an example. He’s no longer with the team, but his story is still evident in the current iteration of the team due the strange life (afterlife?) of how draft selections journey through the NFL.

A Vikings Pick: The Many Twists, Turns, & Trades

Start off with the most basic fact: Lowe was picked by the Vikings at No. 184 in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Part of what makes that selection notable, though, is the reality that the draft pick didn’t originally belong to the Vikings. Instead, the Jets had that pick. It got sent to Minnesota in the 2021 trade involving tight end Chris Herndon. Rick Spielman brought Herndon and No. 184 to town in exchange for the No. 117 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Already, there’s a bit of a backstory to that selection since Minnesota’s former GM gave it to the team’s new GM via a past trade.

Dig down a bit further, though, to see the next steps.

Vederian Lowe’s Vikings career was short-lived, surviving for just a single season before the team opted to move on. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah traded away his young offensive tackle on August 27th of 2023, getting a 2024 6th-Round selection — No. 188 overall — from the Patriots in exchange for the young lineman. So, the journey continues.

Rather than use that No. 188 pick, Adofo-Mensah decided to ship it out. He is, after all, someone who loves to trade.

Before March of 2024 concluded, Adofo-Mensah dropped a bombshell trade on the NFL. He did so by trading away No. 42, No. 188, and a 2025 2nd to the Texans in exchange for No. 23 and No. 232 (used on DT Levi Drake Rodriguez) in the 2024 NFL Draft.

What we have so far, then, is a pick that arrived in Minnesota due to the Herndon trade with the Jets; that pick got used on Lowe, who was then flipped to the Patriots for a 6th; that 6th was then included in a trade with the Texans to help grab an extra 1st in 2024.

The chaos continues shortly thereafter.

Indeed, Minnesota then leaned on that No. 23 pick as the foundational piece in a draft trade with the Jaguars. Dallas Turner was tumbling down the board and Minnesota coveted the long-and-strong pass rusher. The Vikings moved out No. 23 alongside No. 167, a 2025 3rd, and a 2025 4th to jump into the No. 17 spot.

Turner was then grafted onto the Vikings’ roster at 17th overall. He is moving into his sophomore season and looks ready to jump into the EDGE3 job a year after being leaned on as the EDGE5.

Stand back to assess the carnage of a single Vikings pick. There’s a bit of a butterfly effect taking place. What was once a 2021 deal for enhanced tight end depth turned into a piece of the puzzle (albeit a small one) to make an aggressive move up the board in 2024 to snag Dallas Turner. Wild, right?

The 2025 NFL Draft is fast approaching, taking lift off in just two weeks. The Vikings own four draft picks, but we can likely expect a least a bit of shuffling before the three-day event is finished.