If the Vikings become deadline sellers, who might they consider trading?

With nearly 60 percent of their schedule remaining, the 3-4 Minnesota Vikings aren't completely out of the running for a playoff spot. If they can start to stack some wins together, there's a path for Kevin O'Connell's team to get back into the mix.

With that said, the reality of the situation is that the Vikings are facing a steep uphill climb to avoid watching the postseason from home in January. They almost certainly need to finish 7-3 to earn a wild card spot, and they'll have to do that while young quarterback J.J. McCarthy develops on the fly against the NFL's hardest remaining schedule. The Vikings have five games left against the Lions, Packers, and Seahawks (combined record: 15-5-1), as well as games against Lamar Jackson's Ravens and the Commanders, Cowboys, Bears, and Giants.

At the moment, FTN's DVOA metric gives Minnesota a mere 2.6 percent chance to make the playoffs. The Athletic's playoff simulator is only slightly higher, at 5 percent.

If the Vikings lose to the Lions on Sunday (they opened as 8.5-point road underdogs), those odds will drop further. And with the NFL's trade deadline coming up on Nov. 4, just two days after that game, the Vikings might be thinking about the possibility of being sellers.

If GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah starts to look toward the future, which players could potentially be on the trade block? Here are four names who might make sense as trade candidates.

TE T.J. Hockenson

Hockenson has had a quiet 2025 season so far. He's caught just 27 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown through seven games. Part of that might be due to the way the Vikings have used him, and part of it is almost certainly due to the offense's collective struggles in several games. He's still a gifted tight end in the prime of his career at 28 years old, so if a team has interest in acquiring him, it might make sense for the Vikings to listen.

However, there are a couple reasons why it probably won't happen. The first is that Hockenson has two additional years left on a big contract, which would create a big chunk of dead money for the Vikings while serving as a potential roadblock for any acquiring team. The second is that trading Hockenson would remove an important pass-catcher for McCarthy. Given the Vikings' uninspiring depth at tight end, it might be worth keeping Hockenson simply because his presence can help with the development and evaluation of Minnesota's 22-year-old quarterback.

DT Javon Hargrave

Vikings defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. — Images Courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

From a football standpoint, a real case can be made for the Vikings trading Hargrave despite signing him to a two-year, $30 million deal less than eight months ago. He's had an underwhelming first half, with solid pass-rush production (albeit with no sacks since the season opener) and below-average run defense. As a result, his role has been reduced quite a bit. Over the past three games, Hargrave has played just 73 of 192 defensive snaps (38 percent). That's well below Jonathan Allen and breakout star Jalen Redmond (140 snaps each), as well as Levi Drake Rodriguez (101).

The issue probably comes down to the feasibility of trading Hargrave's contract. But if there's a team out there with interest in making a deal work, this idea probably makes even more sense than the Hockenson one. The Vikings aren't using Hargrave much as things stand, and they could give an expanded role to rookie Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins in this scenario.

Allen could also theoretically be a trade candidate, but he's got an even trickier contract (which goes through 2027, not 2026) and is more important to the current state of the defense.

RB Aaron Jones

This one also seems unlikely, given that the Vikings signed Jones to a two-year, $20 million deal in the offseason and frequently praise his importance to their offense. He caught a touchdown pass from McCarthy back in Week 1, and any move that takes talent away from the offense would threaten to complicate the No. 1 goal of the rest of this season, which is evaluating McCarthy.

The case for it is that even though Jones is older and has a lengthy injury history, a contending team with a need at running back might be interested in acquiring a player with his abilities. The Vikings have Jordan Mason as their early-down hammer and liked what they saw from Zavier Scott as their pass-catching back while Jones was hurt. Cam Akers is also hanging around the roster. It's not totally out of the realm of possibility that they could consider moving Jones for a draft pick.

LB Ivan Pace Jr.

Pace was a breakout star for the Vikings as an undrafted rookie in 2023. He remained productive last season, but his third NFL campaign has been one to forget so far. Pace was exposed in run defense during Blake Cashman's injury absence, and since Cashman returned, he's been relegated to No. 3 linebacker duties behind veteran Eric Wilson. Pace didn't play at all against the Eagles and then saw 17 snaps against the Chargers.

If Pace has fallen out of favor in Minnesota, it could make sense to consider trading him to a team that would give him a fresh start, if such interest exists around the league. The Vikings playing Wilson over Pace currently threatens to cost them a fourth-round compensatory pick in next year's draft. Thus, it feels like they should probably do one of two things: Either trade Pace and try to get a different pick back to make up for it, or give Pace the LB2 role back in a season that probably isn't going to end in a playoff berth.

TE T.J. Hockenson

DT Javon Hargrave

RB Aaron Jones

LB Ivan Pace Jr.

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