Leading up to the 2024 NFL draft, rumors swirled suggesting the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings were looking to trade up. In both cases, it was believed they were targeting a quarterback.
After Caleb Williams unsurprisingly went off the board to the Chicago Bears at No. 1 overall, those rumors heated up again. Both the Giants and Vikings reportedly engaged the New England Patriots, who held the No. 3 overall selection.
Despite significant offers made by each team, New England stood pat and selected North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.
The Arizona Cardinals selected wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 4 overall, followed by the Los Angeles Chargers selecting offensive tackle Joe Alt at No. 5 overall.
When it was their time on the clock, the Giants passed on the remaining quarterbacks and selected wide receiver Malik Nabers at No. 5. Five picks later, the Vikings then settled on quarterback J.J. McCarthy at No. 10 overall.
However, despite their selection of a quarterback, Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press said there was buzz that the Vikings were actually attempting to trade up ahead of the Giants so they could take Nabers.
There was buzz at draft time that the Vikings wanted to move from No. 11 to No. 5, not to pick a quarterback but to get LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers, who was picked No. 6 by the Giants. Had that trade occurred, Jefferson would have been traded and Nabers would have been the No. 1 receiver.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported that exact scenario during Round 1 of the draft, but it was somehow overlooked and subsequently buried.
“At No. 5, the Chargers, when they took Joe Alt, they passed on an opportunity to trade out of that spot. The team that wanted to move up to that spot, I’m told, the Minnesota Vikings — and not to take J.J. McCarthy,” Florio said at the time. “The Vikings, I’m told, were trying to move up to No. 5 to get Malik Nabers.”
Had the Vikings moved up and snagged Nabers, it would have been the second time in four years that a team leapfrogged the Giants for a No. 1 wide receiver. The Philadelphia Eagles did it in 2021 when they moved up to No. 10 overall for DeVonta Smith.
