One of the ironies of yesterday’s Trent Richardson trade is that he won’t be playing for the Browns this Sunday in Minnesota, where the Browns acquired the third overall pick they felt they needed to draft Richardson last year.
As with Butch Davis keying on Kellen Winslow II in 2004, the Holmgren/Heckert regime was willing to offer a not-inconsequential ransom to slide up just one slot in the draft. They coveted Richardson above all else, once the best QBs proved out of reach.
They had to know that the Vikings wouldn’t draft T-Rich, even with Adrian Peterson coming off injury. But they weren’t 100% sure that they wouldn’t trade the pick to another team that wanted the Alabama back. Besides, they had a surfeit of lower-round picks, and it seemed unlikely they’d even fit on the roster, much less make a difference.
So to secure their feature back, the Browns surrendered four 2012 picks: 1(4 overall), 4(118), 5(139), and 7(211). From further trades, the Vikings netted five players, all among their 53-man roster today:
- LT Matt Kalil (USC), a Day 1 starter at a critical position
- WR Jarius Wright (Arkansas), who started last week and had a decent 22-310-2 rookie year stat line.
- S Robert Blanton (Notre Dame), a backup with three solo tackles so far this year
- CB A.J. Jefferson (via trade with ARI), a young vet starter for 8 of 18 games as a Viking, including their playoff loss last season
- MLB Michael Mauti (Penn State), a 7th-round rookie who’s been game-day inactive so far.
So which would you rather have: that group of players, or Trent Richardson, or the Colts’ first round pick next spring?
