Report: Minnesota Vikings acquire center Brett Jones from New York Giants

In a bit of a surprise, the Minnesota Vikings have made a trade to acquire some offensive line help. . .and, in the process, may have further clarified the status of starting center Pat Elflein.

The team’s official Twitter account has reported that the Vikings have sent an undisclosed 2019 draft choice to the New York Giants in exchange for center Brett Jones. The deal will be culminated when Jones passes a physical with the Vikings.

Jones played his college football at the University of Regina in Canada, and went undrafted in the 2013 NFL Draft (though he was a second-round choice of the Calgary Stampeders in the 2013 CFL Draft). Jones played for the Stampeders in 2013 and 2014, and played some pretty damn good football. . .he was the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie in 2013 and the CFL’s Offensive Lineman of the year in 2014.

Jones then signed with the New York Giants, and was placed on injured reserve in September of 2015. He served as a backup for the Giants in 2016, and in 2017 started 13 games for the Giants on the offensive line, seeing time at both guard and center. The Giants thought highly enough of him to place a second-round free agent tender on him during the offseason.

The move could say something about the status of center Pat Elflein, who head coach Mike Zimmer said earlier today is not expected to practice this week. If Elflein is not off of the Physically Unable to Perform List by 3:00 PM Central on Saturday, he will remain on the list and have to miss the first six games of the 2018 regular season. In acquiring Jones, they have gotten someone that was competing for the starting center job in New York, and has played at a relatively high level at both the center and guard spots.

We will have to see what sort of corresponding roster move the team makes with the Jones acquisition, and what sort of draft pick they sent the Giants in exchange. When we have that information, we will pass it along to you.

Once again, the Minnesota Vikings have acquired offensive lineman Brett Jones from the New York Football Giants in exchange for a pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

UPDATE: Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network is reporting that the compensation for the Giants is a 7th round choice in 2019.