The Vikings essentially moved down 50 draft spots for one win

The Minnesota Vikings didn’t get a ton of value for Yannick Ngakoue.

After a long standoff with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Yannick Ngakoue finally got his wish to leave Duval County granted, as the Minnesota Vikings were able to acquire him in exchange for a second-round pick and a fifth-round pick. While he has continued to perform in Minnesota, their own poor record means that he is on the move again.

Adam Schefter confirmed that the 1-5 Vikings decided to end Ngakoue’s tenure as a Vikings after just under two months of time, trading him to his hometown Baltimore Ravens in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick and 2022 fifth-round pick. Essentially, the Vikings decided to move down 50 spots in the draft order while getting one win from Ngakoue. That’s not optimal.

The Vikings appear destined for a very bad finish to the season in 2020

Nkagoue was living up to billing on the field, as he tallied five sacks in just six games. However, Mike Zimmer is seemingly accepting the fact that the 4-1 Green Bay Packers and 5-1 Chicago Bears have built up an insurmountable lead in the NFC North, and it’s better to start the fire sale now.

The Kirk Cousins extension is looking worse by the day, and Minnesota might be in the market for a new quarterback in 2021. Holding onto Ngakoue and scraping out one or two extra wins might be detrimental in the long run, as it could take them out of Justin Fields or Trey Lance’s range in the draft. This was not an easy move to make for Rick Spielman, but this had to get done at some point.

Minnesota realized a few games into the season they didn’t have the roster to contend this season. The fact that they were able to recoup most of the value they originally gave up for Ngakoue is impressive, but this deal essentially amounted to the Vikings moving down 50 spots in the draft for six games, five sacks, and one win provided by Ngakoue.