The Minnesota vikings have finally gotten to their scheduled bye week after a tough first six weeks of the season. The Vikings, who are 1-5, and coming off a demoralizing loss against the Atlanta Falcons, started their bye week by making some much needed roster moves to try and jumpstart the team for the second half of the season.
For starters, the Vikings traded away defensive end Yannik Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens for a 2021 third round draft pick and a 2022 conditional fifth round draft pick. Ngakoue, who was traded to the Vikings from the Jacksonville Jaguars this past offseason, suited up only six times for the Vikes but did make a huge impact on the defensive side of the ball. Ngakoue led the team with five sacks, seven tackles for losses and two forced fumbles. By those stats alone, the Vikings are losing a key part of their defense that is already depleted as we speak.
Just a few hours later, the Vikings announced that Danielle Hunter would be undergoing serious, season – ending surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back. The back-to-back Pro Bowl defensive end for the Vikings, who was only suppose to be out six to eight weeks when the injury first arose in the middle of August, also signed a three year extension with the team in the 2018 offseason. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, “MIN has a decision this offseason. Make Hunter the highest-paid defender in football or trade him.” Obviously, that wasn’t said by the Minnesota Vikings, but by the camp of Danielle Hunter.
With a 1-5 record heading into the bye week in a very difficult NFC North, the Vikings may very well be thinking of ‘canning’ this season and start rebuilding immediately through the draft and free agency come this offseason. With a depleted defense and an inept passing attack, the Vikings could very well see themselves in the Top 5 of the 2021 NFL Draft in the beginning of next year.
