An even better question is could a division rival be the trade partner?
Draft day trades are part of the fun and unpredictability of the three-day event. Even blood rivals have found common ground on draft day. Could the Minnesota Vikings possibly find a trade partner in the NFC North?
ESPN's Bill Barnwell came up with a first-round mock of all trades. Barnwell has Minnesota dealing with the Chicago Bears to trade back and acquire an extra pick.
Vikings get: 1-25, 2-60
Bears get: 1-18, 5-163
"We don't normally see many trades between division rivals, but trades involving draft picks can represent an exception. The Eagles and Cowboys traded first-round picks in 2021 in a deal that landed the former DeVonta Smith and the latter Parsons. The Vikings moved down in deals with the Lions and Packers in the 2022 draft, although that was under the stewardship of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. It remains to be seen whether executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski would be as amenable to this sort of trade, but I do have the Bears paying a bit of a premium for the privilege of making a deal within the NFC North.
Ryan Poles has already addressed some of his team's weaknesses this offseason, but the Bears should still hope to add something meaningful on the edge. Montez Sweat is a very solid starter on one side of the line, but Dayo Odeyingbo is coming off a torn Achilles and didn't look good in his debut season as a Bears player before the injury. Odeyingbo has no guaranteed money due in 2027, so this trade would be for a rookie who can rotate with him in 2026 before taking over as the starter next year.
The Bears have an extra second-round pick after trading DJ Moore to the Bills, which would make this deal easier to stomach in Chicago. Brzezinski's Vikings were the league's third-oldest team on a snap-weighted basis last season, and that was with McCarthy and Max Brosmer taking the majority of the snaps at quarterback. Adofo-Mensah was wildly successful in free agency but struggled badly with his drafts, so the Vikings need to add more young talent to their core. Picking up an extra second-round pick would make sense, especially after they made just one top-100 pick a year ago."
Barnwell also imagines a trade for Jonathan Greenard with the Kansas City Chiefs, where the two teams swap first-round picks, and the Vikings add the 97th pick. If both trades happened, the Vikings would have big ammunition to reload this roster. A top ten pick would be incredible.