A Vikings-Patriots trade that gets Drake Maye to Minnesota

If North Carolina star Drake Maye were to somehow end up on the Minnesota Vikings, I am sure my FanSided.com colleague Cody Williams would be doing cartwheels like people in Knoxville after Tennessee went 7-6 and won a bowl game. I am no Head Ball Coach, I am just another dude, man... Regardless, Maye is going top four in the 2024 NFL Draft, and the Vikings will have to trade up for him.

So what I am going to do today is figure out a way to put this dude on a team, bruh. He may not have enough D.A.W.G. (Dude Always Wins Games) for me, but I do love Maye's upside. So at No. 3, it's gonna be Maye. Every little thing I do is gonna be enough for you to move off the No. 3 overall pick, New England Patriots. Yes, I am shoving a square peg through a round hole to get Maye to Minnesota.

Here is what a trade could look like to get the Vikings the No. 3 overall pick from New England.

The Vikings would end up paying a slight premium of just a shade under $300K APY to make this deal work. Minnesota would get the No. 3 overall pick, plus a 2025 fourth-round pick from New England in exchange for the No. 11 overall pick this year and the Vikings' 2025 first-round pick next year. The No. 23 overall pick from the Houston Texans is just slightly more valuable than the 2025 first-round pick.

Let's discuss if this is a move the Patriots will want to do or not. Minnesota should be all about it.

How to get Drake Maye onto Minnesota Vikings in a trade up for No. 3

Admittedly, I think offering both No. 11 and No. 23 could be enough to get New England to move off the No. 3 overall pick. Minnesota may not have to give up that much, but will probably have to pay a premium in some capacity. Regardless, we are talking about No. 11 and another first-round pick, No. 23 overall this year or an undetermined first-round pick next year in 2025, going the Patriots' way.

Minnesota obviously does the trade because Kevin O'Connell is an excellent offensive-minded head coach, who knows what he is doing with quarterbacks. The Vikings also do this trade, no matter the cost really, because we all know that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has to win this NFL Draft. Even if my proposed trade package doesn't get a deal done, Minnesota has plenty of assets to do so.

The biggest question here is will the Patriots bite the bullet and take the Vikings' offer for No. 3. I think a pair of firsts could help them move up the draft board further from No. 11 in a counter move. The Patriots have a ton of holes in their roster's construction, so they are not going to want to give up their own first-round pick next year in 2025. If they think the Vikings will stink too, maybe they could?

Maye is the type of quarterback that buys Adofo-Mensah more time and defines O'Connell's legacy.