Here’s how the Vikings’ trade for Cam Robinson reminds me of Randy Moss, as a Viking, marching to the podium in Foxborough, Mass., and praising Patriots coach Bill Belichick, causing the Vikings to cut Moss, then refuse, for years, to admit that they had ever met him.
This may take a while.
The Vikings’ trade for Robinson, the offensive tackle who had played his entire career in Jacksonville, prompts an important question about the front office’s current and future plans, summed up thusly:
If you’re not good at drafting football players, why draft so many football players?
The Vikings have three picks in the 2025 draft — a first-rounder and two fifth-rounders. They couldn’t afford to winnow that wimpy stockpile, so they traded a middle-round pick in 2025 for Robinson, a veteran who will try to replace the excellent and injured Christian Darrisaw at left tackle.
The move signals that the Vikings, despite playing a journeyman quarterback and losing one of their least replaceable players in Darrisaw, think they’re good enough to challenge for a championship this season.
The move is also the latest indication that General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah either favors, or recognizes his success with, acquiring NFL veterans instead of relying on the draft.
His first three drafts have yielded zero players you can currently describe as “Pro Bowl caliber.” His first two picks in the 2022 draft, Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth Jr., were the worst kinds of busts. His first pick in 2023, Jordan Addison, is not playing like a first-round pick this season after an impressive rookie campaign. His two first-round picks in 2024, quarterback J.J. McCarthy and rusher Dallas Turner, aren’t contributing because of McCarthy’s knee injury and Turner’s lack of readiness.