Pelissero: Don't be surprised if Vikings trade up for a running back in the NFL draft

Minnesota only has three picks left in the 2025 draft, so it will cost them future assets to move up.

Former NFL players and some hall of famers are introduced with girls flag football members before the start of the second round of 2024 NFL draft in Detroit on Friday, April 26, 2024. | Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK

After selecting guard Donovan Jackson from Ohio State with the 24th overall pick in a move to shore up the offensive line in the first round of the NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings might be a team looking to move up in Rounds 2 or 3 Friday night.

Moving up will definitely require the Vikings parting with future draft capital since they only have three picks left in this year's draft: the 97th overall pick (Round 3 compensatory), 139th overall (Round 5), and 187th overall (Round 6).

"iIt'll be interesting to see. They've not been shy in the past about potentially trading future assets to get additional picks now. And when you don't have a pick until all the way down into the bottom of Round 3, that might become more acute of a need," NFL Network's Tom Pelissero said Friday morning on KFAN's Power Trip Morning Show.

Pelissero thinks the Vikings might be thinking about moving up to target a running back.

"I do think that one position will be interesting to see, and I'm not saying they'll do it, but there's a huge clump of running backs. There's a really deep running back group," he reasoned.

"There's guys like TreVeyon Henderson, he'll be gone early in Round 2. Quinshon Judkins, the other Ohio State running back. And then there's probably like 20, 30 running backs that will come off the board sometime between rounds three and five. We know they want to take some heat off of Aaron Jones in this offense. At what point, if at all, especially when you only have four picks, do you go and take a running back? That would not surprise me. If there's somebody they really like the fit with, that could be a spot that they target."

Vikings 2025 draft grades. | Bring Me The Sports

The Vikings currently are rolling with Jones and Jordan Mason, whom they acquired in a trade with the 49ers, at running back. Jones is the lightning and Mason is the thunder, known for being a tackle-breaking machine who excels in short-yardage situations.

Jones is on a one-year deal and Mason has two years left on his contract.

Ty Chandler and Zavier Scott are the only other running backs on the roster, and neither is a lock to make the team out of training camp.