A Minnesota Vikings trade for Carlos Hyde could make sense

It’s theme day once again for those of us in the SB Nation NFL blogosphere, and with the NFL’s trade deadline approaching one week from today, we’ve been asked to take a look at a trade target that might make sense. For the Minnesota Vikings, there’s a player that could, potentially, be on the move that could give their offense a pretty significant boost at a pretty low price.

After skidding to an 0-7 start to their 2017 season, the San Francisco 49ers might be looking to move running back Carlos Hyde. Now, the Niners have denied that they have any interest in moving the 26-year old Hyde, but he is in the final year of his contract, and his contract would be very reasonable for the rest of the season if the Vikings were to take him on.

Obviously, the price for Hyde wouldn’t be that high, absent an extension to his contract or something. The Vikings would only have to pick up a minimal amount of his salary for the remainder of the year, and wouldn’t have to make any sort of long-term commitment to him with Dalvin Cook set to return in 2018.

Since the Cook injury, the Vikings have only been rolling with two running backs, Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon, as well as fullback C.J. Ham. I’m not sure if it’s reasonable to believe that those two are going to get through the season without any hiccups, particularly given that Murray reportedly still isn’t at 100% after having ankle surgery this offseason. Adding Hyde to the mix would give the Vikings another option at running back, and with the way they’ve run the ball even after the Cook injury, having another fresh option could be beneficial.

Hyde is a player that has had some success in the National Football League, nearly topping the 1,000-yard mark in 2016 for a Niners team that. . .well, let’s just say they’ve struggled in recent years. A three-headed monster of Hyde, McKinnon, and Murray would give opposing coaches quite a bit to worry about.

I really don’t think that anything is going to happen trade-wise for the purple at the deadline this year. Rick Spielman loves his draft picks, and he’s already short one because of the Sam Bradford trade (The Vikings still have to send a fourth-rounder to Philadelphia, though they should have some compensatory picks coming back.) Of course, there’s a chance that the Vikings could send a player to the Niners in return in such a deal. But, if the Vikings did want to make a splash, they could certainly do worse than looking into a trade for Carlos Hyde.

NFL trades that should happen before the deadline