The Minnesota Vikings were busy as the NFL trade deadline passed on Tuesday, acquiring quarterback Josh Dobbs from Arizona in a deal that involved a low-level pick swap and then sending left guard Ezra Cleveland to Jacksonville for a 2024 sixth-round selection that originally belonged to Carolina.
Danielle Hunter, meanwhile, went nowhere as he continues to have an outstanding season.
Here are some thoughts on the moves the Vikings made and didn’t make.
What the trade for Josh Dobbs says about the Vikings' QB situation
Rookie Jaren Hall is expected to start on Sunday in place of Kirk Cousins, but with Cousins’ season over because of a torn Achilles’ the Vikings wanted to add another veteran to the mix.
Is Dobbs assured of being the starter on Nov. 12 against the New Orleans Saints? No. But if Hall struggles, coach Kevin O’Connell likely wanted an upgrade on his backup options.
Nick Mullens entered the season as the Vikings’ No. 2 quarterback, but has been on injured reserve since mid-October because of a back issue. Sean Mannion was signed to the practice squad on Oct. 11 after Mullens went on IR. However, Mannion doesn’t appear to be an option to play in a game.
Mullens is eligible to return for the Nov. 12 game against the Saints, but the Dobbs acquisition indicates he won’t be ready to go that quickly.
Hall had been Cousins’ backup since Mullens’ injury and the fifth-round pick from BYU replaced Cousins in the fourth quarter on Sunday in Green Bay. Dobbs, 28, had started all eight games for the Arizona Cardinals (1-7) this season.
He likely will need the next week-plus to familiarize himself with O’Connell’s offense before it becomes a possibility that he can start.
Josh Dobbs will provide Vikings with necessary safety net
The Vikings have won three consecutive games to pull to .500 (4-4) after a 1-4 start and hold the seventh and final seed in the NFC playoff race. While Dobbs can’t be considered a replacement for Cousins, his presence does provide peace of mind.
The 28-year-old Dobbs was a fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017 and is the definition of a journeyman. He has played in 16 career games over a four-season period with Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Arizona but that doesn’t begin to tell the story of Dobbs’ career.
Since entering the NFL, he has gone from Pittsburgh to Jacksonville to Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Detroit to Tennessee to Cleveland and finally Arizona. Dobbs’ first start came last season with the Titans, or six seasons after he was drafted.
He has been traded twice this season, going from Cleveland to Arizona to Minnesota, and is playing on a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Dobbs’ might be best known for having majored in aerospace engineering at the University of Tennessee and maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA.
His presence should take pressure off of Hall. The Vikings didn’t make Hall a fifth-round pick last spring with the thought that he would end up having to start as a rookie. Cousins had never missed a start because of injury and Mullens was his backup.
Tuesday’s move isn’t so much a vote of no confidence in Hall as it is a necessary safety net.
Vikings sell low on Ezra Cleveland
The Vikings’ three-game winning streak stopped them from conducting the fire sale that many had expected earlier this season, but they did subtract one veteran starter when Cleveland was shipped to the Jaguars.
The fact Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn’t get more back for the 2020 second-round selection was a bit surprising, but the move wasn’t. Cleveland had missed the past two games because of a foot injury and was replaced by Dalton Risner at left guard. Risner signed a one-year contract worth up to $4 million with the Vikings in September but was a backup until Cleveland’s injury.
Cleveland was a left tackle at Boise State before the Vikings moved him to guard, first on the right side and then on the left. He is set to be a free agent in March and word is he wants a chance to move back to tackle. The Vikings have two of the top tackles in the NFL, with Christian Darrisaw on the left and Brian O’Neill on the right, so that opportunity wasn’t going to present itself in Minnesota.
Cleveland has been an effective run blocker throughout his career and his pass protection had improved this season, according to Pro Football Focus. He wasn’t going to get back a first- or second-day pick, but a fourth- or fifth-rounder seemed realistic.
Danielle Hunter stays put
One guy who was going nowhere on Tuesday was pass-rusher extraordinaire Danielle Hunter. Hunter is playing on the final season of a reworked contract he signed after conducting a hold-in at the beginning of training camp.
He will be a free agent after the season and the Vikings can’t place the franchise tag on him. The Vikings’ poor start to the season made it seem logical that Hunter would be moved by Tuesday’s deadline, but the team’s play improved and Hunter has been a big part of that success.
Hunter just turned 29 and leads the NFL with 10 sacks. He has failed to record a sack in only one game this year, playing his first season in new coordinator Brian Flores’ defense. While the Vikings reportedly received calls on Hunter, the team would have had to be blown away to move him.
The goal now will be to keep him in a Vikings uniform for the remainder of his career. That won’t be cheap, but Hunter isn’t showing signs of slowing down.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com.
