The Minnesota Vikings have one of the best wide receiver rooms in the NFL right now, with quarterback J.J. McCarthy looking to be the starter after missing his rookie season due to a knee injury. The team has quality skill position talent with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and rookie Tai Felton, so they can be ready to make a move with other players on the roster.
With a 26-year-old playmaker potentially not projected to be in the starting lineup and teams looking for talent, could Minnesota look to move on from him? Let’s take a deeper dive into this decision they will need to make.
Will the Minnesota Vikings Trade Away Jalen Nailor?
In a PFSN article about potential trade and cut candidates by Sterling Xie, the Vikings could be moving on from Nailor, as the team has wide receivers and could use him as an asset to get more draft capital and/or a player going forward. This move also makes more sense after selecting Tai Felton in the third round of the most recent draft.
“With only five draft picks, the Minnesota Vikings didn’t have much of an opportunity to heavily impact their pre-existing roster. However, in taking wide receiver Tai Felton in Round 3, the Vikings added to a position that already felt solidified, putting some of the non-Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison wideouts on alert.”
“One of those is Jalen Nailor, the clear No. 3 receiver for Minnesota last season. The former sixth-round pick is in the final season of his rookie contract and has played roughly 60% of his career snaps out wide, with Jefferson largely playing the slot in three-receiver sets.”
“Felton is also primarily a perimeter receiver, meaning the Vikings could see him as Nailor’s successor in 11 personnel. If Minnesota doesn’t intend to extend Nailor and Felton has a strong preseason, he might not have a ton of roster value given his limited special-teams value (56 special-teams snaps in the last two seasons combined).”
Nailor has one year remaining on his rookie contract and took a massive step in the right direction in 2024 as he posted 28 catches on 42 targets for 414 yards (14.8 yards per reception) with six receiving touchdowns. There could be a team that saw that 2024 breakout after barely seeing the field in his first two seasons and are looking at him as a budding prospect on a cheap one-year contract.
There is always the possibility that the Vikings decide to move into training camp and preseason without moving Nailor and keeping the depth at wide receiver.
Minnesota is in a tough division and may want to look at having as many skill position players on the roster as possible. It will be interesting to see how the front office and coaching staff attack this potential move.