When the Minnesota Vikings lost Irv Smith Jr. to a torn meniscus, they got aggressive in finding his replacement. After calling the Philadelphia Eagles about Dallas Goedert, they settled for sending a fourth-round pick to the New York Jets for Chris Herndon and a 2022 6th round pick*.
The Vikings would eventually have to find a replacement for Smith after finalizing their 53-man roster, but they didn’t need to make it an act of desperation. Because of the decent capital used to acquire Herndon, this deal resembles last year’s Yannick Ngakoue trade.
The roots of this deal go further than Tuesday’s acquisition. Since the Vikings were blown out 38-7 in the 2018 NFC Championship game, they’ve been fixated with building a winning team within their championship window at all costs.
This made sense initially. The Vikings had a young defensive core, an offense good enough to complement it, and a front office that had just found four Pro Bowlers in the 2015 NFL Draft. With the Super Bowl within reach, they signed Kirk Cousins to be their missing piece.
The Vikings went 8-7-1 in 2018. General manager Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer’s job security suddenly became a hot topic. The same group came back and flirted with a division title but never felt like a true contender.
But Zimmer devised a brilliant game plan to pull off an upset playoff victory in New Orleans, leading Zygi and Mark Wilf to fall back in love with the regime and hand Zimmer, Spielman, and Cousins extensions to restart the cycle.
With those extensions came renewed pressure to win now. Pressed against the salary cap, the Vikings had to release several key players on defense and faced a virtual offseason program due to the pandemic. With no chance to groom their new players, the Vikings’ roster became paper thin with no margin for error.
That’s why they got on the phone when Danielle Hunter suffered a neck injury in practice. No player on the roster was able to replace Hunter, so Minnesota coughed up a second-round pick for Ngakoue.
We know now that Ngakoue wasn’t a fit for the Vikings, but the move reeked desperation at the moment. The roster wasn’t built to make a Super Bowl or even compete for a divisional title, but given the expectations on Zimmer and Spielman, they chose to be aggressive.
Coming off a 7-9 season, the pressure is once again on for the Vikings to contend. While Smith isn’t the same caliber of player as Hunter, it can be argued that he is just as important to the team.
The Vikings have Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen but never added a legitimate third target this offseason outside of Dede Westbrook, who is recovering from a torn ACL. Smith reportedly dominated training camp and was slated to be the third option until he tore his meniscus in the final preseason game at Kansas City. Smith was the de facto third receiver and had to be replaced on a team in win-now mode
Herdon had a great rookie season with the Jets in 2018. With 39 catches, 502 yards, and four touchdowns, he was considered a promising, explosive player, but his 2019 season was derailed due to a four-game suspension and injuries.
After a disappointing 2020 campaign with 31 catches for 287 yards and three touchdowns, Herndon entered this season as the starter during Jets camp but couldn’t win over the new coaching staff.
“Herndon struggled with drops, never seemed to grasp the playbook, and routinely appeared disinterested in preseason games,” the Athletic’s Connor Hughes wrote. “…It’s not like [Tyler] Kroft and [Ryan] Griffin have more athletic talent…he figured to make the team because there wasn’t anyone worth taking his spot.”
When Zimmer was asked about Herndon on Wednesday, he offered a response worthy of microwaved leftovers.
A player who generates that response probably could have been acquired for a late-round pick last offseason. But with the Vikings’ desperation to go 10-7 and get lucky in the playoffs, they decided to cough up a fourth-round selection.
It’s why the front office decided to forge ahead with Jalyn Holmes and Jaleel Johnson on the defensive line last year instead of accepting a full rebuild. It’s why they decided to sign a slew of veterans on one-year deals to put a Band-Aid over their defense. It’s likely why the Vikings opted not to trade up for Justin Fields or Mac Jones in last year’s draft, the logic being that if Kellen Mond struggles, he’s only a third-round pick.
The Vikings’ reluctance to look at the big picture has set them back. With a better long-term approach, they could build a contender worthy of a Super Bowl run and get back to what made them successful during the 2017 season. Instead, Minnesota is staring at a paper-thin roster and a familiar scenario.
*An earlier version of this article forgot to mention the 6th round pick the Vikings got in addition to Herndon. We regret the error.
