The Denver Broncos have made a move to acquire a new defensive lineman from the Minnesota Vikings.
Though Broncos Country seems to be sitting on the edge of their collective seats waiting for the team to make a move within the coaching staff following a fourth straight defeat, general manager George Paton is instead going back to his old team to find more depth.
On Saturday, the Broncos sent a seventh-round pick in the 2022 draft to the Vikings in exchange for defensive end Stephen Weatherly and a seventh-round choice in 2023. This is essentially a way for the Vikings to dump Weatherly’s salary as they no longer saw him as part of their future plans.
Weatherly was selected in the seventh round of the 2016 draft by the Vikings out of Vanderbilt. He spent his first four seasons with the team before leaving for the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2020 season. After just one season there, he came back to the Vikings this offseason.
The Vikings apparently feel that they have enough pass-rush help with Danielle Hunter, D.J. Wonnum and Everson Griffen.
Weatherly is a defensive end but in the 3-4 scheme, the Broncos could also use him as an outside linebacker. To make room for him on the active roster, the team placed linebacker Micah Kiser on injured reserve.
Stephen Weatherly has just six career sacks in 64 games
For his career, Weatherly has just six sacks and he has seen his usage drop this season as the Vikings have used him on just 20.3 percent of their defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Reference. He hasn’t registered a sack since the 2019 season.
Paton will now see if he can get some more production out of him by injecting him into Vic Fangio’s defense. The team gave up little in the way of compensation, but with the trade deadline approaching and the team struggling mightily, it is possible that Paton and the Broncos will be big sellers before November 2.