RandBall: Harrison Phillips trade makes sense if the Vikings get a wide receiver

The initial reaction to Wednesday’s news that the Vikings traded popular veteran defensive line starter Harrison Phillips to the Jets for two future late-round picks was a near-universal “What?”

As in, why would they do that? Phillips has started every game for the Vikings since signing as a free agent in 2022, providing both stability and production while becoming a locker room leader.

But after the initial shock wore off, it started to make a little more sense. If you are perpetually online, the process can be summed up in two GIFs: Kevin O’Connell’s stunned reaction when the Vikings moved up to get Dallas Turner in the 2024 draft and the well-worn Alonzo Mourning grudging understanding meme.

It was the kind of move that only made sense after it happened, leaving us all susceptible to hindsight bias. Hey, at least I got to learn a great new word in unraveling all this: “postdiction,” which means predicting something after it already happened.

Media members like myself are very good at postdiction and not as good at prediction, but the former is about all we have with Phillips.

It makes sense in hindsight when you consider two things, which I talked about on Thursday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

First, the Vikings appear to have tremendous depth on the defensive line. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores raved about the group earlier this week in a piece about how hard it was going to be for the Vikings to make cuts to the defensive line.

Second, it makes sense to deal from a position of strength if it also helps you shore up a position of weakness. Trading Phillips for future draft picks didn’t give the Vikings any immediate help, but it did clear $3.7 million on this year’s salary cap and $7.5 million next year.

The extra draft capital and cap space could be useful as the Vikings look around the league and perhaps try to acquire a wide receiver. Their depth at that position is perilously thin with Rondale Moore out for the season, Jalen Nailor dealing with a hand injury and Jordan Addison suspended for the first three games.

Would they add old friend Adam Thielen to help second-year QB J.J. McCarthy?

The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling wrote in his Access Vikings newsletter recently (before the Phillips news) that “a trade between the Vikings and Panthers for Thielen seems hard to imagine” even as the internet buzzes about the possibility.

He reiterated on Wednesday’s Access Vikings podcast with colleagues Andrew Krammer and Emily Leiker that Thielen is still important to the Panthers and would be an expensive pickup.

That became even more possible Wednesday with the Phillips news, even if none of us saw that coming.

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