Through the NFL draft and free agency, the Minnesota Vikings have been looking for a real No. 1 cornerback for years, but it might take a trade to complete the task.
On Sunday, July 7, Ryan Fowler of Bleacher Report wrote a proposal in which the Vikings would trade $98 million star cornerback Marshon Lattimore to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2025 and a third-round pick in 2026.
For months, Fowler wrote, “hypotheticals regarding Marshon Lattimore’s future have circled overhead.” Should the venerable Saint in Lattimore become available, Minnesota brass should get interested. Minnesota has made it a point to add impact players to the defense in recent rounds.
Vikings Would Benefit from Having Marshon Lattimore as Their Top CB Byron Murphy Jr. and Akayleb Evans were the first cornerbacks to start for Minnesota. Despite Evans’ progress from his rookie season—a fourth-round pick in 2022—the Vikings’ pass defense finished 24th in the league with 3,986 yards given up through the air to opponents.
The secondary as a whole, or even just the cornerbacks, are not entirely to blame for that kind of porous defense. Pro Football Reference (PFF) lists Evans as 99th out of 127 NFL cornerback who played enough snaps to be eligible for the position, which did not improve Minnesota’s coverage. Murphy did not fare much better in the 87th position.
Shaq Griffin, who outperformed Murphy and Evans in 2023, was added by the Vikings this spring, and Mekhi Blackmon, a third-round selection, ought to improve from his rookie to sophomore seasons. Despite this, Lattimore is by far the best lockdown cornerback on Minnesota’s roster, having been selected to the Pro Bowl four times.
According to Fowler, Latimore “would immediately become the Vikings’ top perimeter stalwart.” “Slotting Lattimore’s physical style of play within Brian Flores’ defense could be a match that jigsaws seamlessly, whether he starts opposite of Shaq Griffin or Byron Murphy Jr.”
Saints and Vikings Exchange for Marshon Lattimore Suits Both Teams Monetarily
Financially speaking, the decision makes sense on both sides of the transaction. With a contract that expires in 2026, Lattimore will be subject to salary cap hits of $14.6 million the following season and $31.4 million and $28.6 million the two years after that.
The Saints, according to Fowler, are presently tracking at over $90 million over the salary limit in one year, which is more than twice the cap debt of any other team in the league. However, the Vikings have $26.3 million in cap space that they can use to bolster their roster in the upcoming months.
With so much room, Minnesota could easily absorb Lattimore’s contract. Restructuring might also help with the rising cap figures by deferring some of the cap hits to future void years.
Due to health concerns, Lattimore has played in just seven of the last two seasons’ regular-season games and ten in the previous one. Prior to that, he was a three-time Pro Bowler. In his seven-year career, he has played in 90 games and has 86 pass deflections, 15 interceptions, and 5 forced fumbles.
Leave a Reply