Grade the trade: A preposterous proposal reuniting Ja'Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson

A boy can dream, right? Well, I don't mean to crush the fine people over at FanDuel's dreams, but it will be a cold day in hell before the Cincinnati Bengals traded their No. 1 wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase over to the Minnesota Vikings so that he could reunite with his former LSU Tigers teammate Justin Jefferson. It is infinitely more likely for Jefferson to come over to Cincinnati because of Joe Borrow.

For my money, I think we will always be chasing the greatest single-season team in the history of college football with the 2019 Bayou Bengals. You had a Heisman Trophy winner in Burrow throwing passes to Chase and Jefferson. It wasn't fair, and no one could stop it. Again, this hypothetical trade is never happening because Burrow is not going to allow the Bengals to trade away his best friend.

Regardless, here is the trade proposed by FanDuel to get Chase over to Minneapolis from Cincinnati.

The math doesn't quite math. Over The Cap has nearly a $10 million assets discrepancy that cannot be overlooked. Then again, Chase is worth way more than $7.7 million salary he is netting in terms of AAV. Jefferson is a year older than him, and just set the wide receiver market with a $35 million deal. Give it a year and Chase could be making upwards of $40 million. $75 million for two receivers, guys...

While Jordan Addison and two top-64 picks in the next two years will help, Cincinnati will need more.

Let's try to hand out a grade for this, as well as try to put together a more realistic trade package.

How Minnesota Vikings trade for Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja'Marr Chase

If we want to approach Chase making somewhere in the ballpark of $35 million in average annual value, we are going to need at least two more top-64 picks to make it worth our time. Because Over The Cap does not have any assets beyond the 2026 NFL Draft to be able to trade, I would say a combination of a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick gets us to around $30 million.

From there, I think you would then need to factor in Addison getting a second contract. He is not the player of Chase or Jefferson. Those are the two best receivers in football teaming up. In time, maybe Addison becomes something of that ilk. Remember that the prices of these contracts are only going up, so he could conceivably be making $45 million on a new deal in a few years and it will not matter.

The reason I think the Bengals should ask for both the 2027 first-rounder and the 2028 second-rounder is that Minnesota might be sensational for all we know. I don't trust Sam Darnold, but J.J. McCarthy could be a guy. Keep in mind that Cincinnati would be freeing up even more money to conceivably overpay Tee Higgins on an "I'm sorry I ever doubted you" sort of contract extension.

Overall, in trying to remove the impossibilities of this trade never happening, we may be closer to a deal than you would think. Of course, it would require the Bengals wanting to play ball, and it is so not in their nature to even do such a thing. I would try to get two more top-64 picks, but if I could only get one from the Vikings, I could live with myself. The problem is you have made Burrow hate you forever.

Ultimately, there is no chance this trade will ever happen. You would need not only for hell to freeze over, but you would need for Burrow and Chase to have an unprecedented falling out, as well as for his value as a wide receiver to collapse into pretty much nothingness. I do not see that happening. I am trying to be fair here and want to hear out what FanDuel is trying to put forth, but I simply cannot.

I will hand out two grades. One existing in a fantasy football vacuum and one existing in the real world.

Grade: Fantasy Football Land: C. The World We Actually Live In Today: F