J.J. McCarthy

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports the Vikings offered the 11th and 23rd overall picks in the 2024 draft along with a 2025 first round pick in exchange for pick No. 3.

The Vikings front office, in other words, did everything it could to move up and land Drake Maye. Instead, they stayed at pick 11 and took J.J. McCarthy. Minnesota’s aggressive offer undercuts the team’s insistence that McCarthy — who draft stock spiked in April — was their guy all along. “There were different points throughout the process where there were [offers],” said Elliott Wolf, New England’s director of scouting who has operated as the team’s de facto GM. “All along, we knew we were in a unique opportunity to get a quarterback that we liked.” The Patriots felt comfortable taking the somewhat unpolished Maye after offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt met with Maye and discussed the “outside zone scheme” he plans to run in New England. Maye’s questionable footwork, according to Fowler’s report, did not concern the Patriots.