On the Minnesota Vikings' FanSided website, the Denver Broncos were named as a potential landing spot for a talented NFC edge rusher. Nik Edlund proposed that the Broncos make a trade for the Za'Darius Smith, who had put his house in Minnesota up for sale and has previously expressed interest in no longer being a Viking.
At this point, he's still on the roster, but there could be reason to believe that he may not be a Viking for much longer. The Vikes' front office has parted with quite a few veteran players this offseason as new GM and HC Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell form the roster to their liking.
The next big domino to fall appears to be Dalvin Cook, who could be cut. I do think Za'Darius Smith could make some sense on the Broncos for a couple of reasons. Here is Edlund's reasoning for the Broncos being a potential landing spot:
"Their top two edge rushers aren't overly impressive. Baron Browning is entering his third season and has five career sacks. Randy Gregory is a battle-tested veteran, but he has never had more than six sacks in a season. Smith would come in and be the top dog in the edge rusher room and would likely start opposite Gregory. "Nik Edlund
He isn't wrong in his analysis at all. He continued in saying that the Broncos might be willing to part with a mid-round pick to acquire Smith, who is a three-time Pro Bowler who has double digit sacks in three of his last four seasons.
Smith is a very good EDGE rusher and would be the best in the room if the Broncos were to make a move for him. He's got eight years in the NFL under his belt and is entering his age-31 season, so this isn't a solution for more than a year or two.
However, come November and December, when the weather gets cold and Denver is playing in must-win games to make the postseason, having a deep rotation of pass rushers is one of the best things they could do for themselves.
Should Denver make this move? What if it only cost a fifth-round pick?