Vikings trade 30th pick to Lions

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — While the Minnesota Vikings wait to hear if Brett Favre will return next season, their fans will have to wait at least another day to find out if they will take a quarterback of the future to eventually replace him.

Four hours into the draft on Thursday night, the Vikings traded the 30th overall pick in the first round to division rival Detroit, meaning their first pick of this draft will not come until Friday night.

The Vikings moved back four spots to the 34th overall selection, the second pick in the second round, swapped fourth-rounders with the Lions to move from 128th overall to No. 100 and also picked up the Lions’seventh rounder, No. 214.

“To make a trade and improve your draft status in each round was a huge success for us,” Vikings vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman said.

If the Vikings really wanted to pick an heir apparent to Favre, they could have done it with the 30th pick because Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen was available and so was Colt McCoy from Texas. Minnesota chose to drop down instead, stockpiling picks and allowing the Lions to take California running back Jahvid Best.

Clausen was not chosen in the first round and could be available Friday, but it appears unlikely that the Vikings will take him. Spielman said the team has four players targeted for that pick and could even trade down again if the right deal presents itself.

“If there was a player at 30 that we were definitely sold on, that we said, ‘There’s no way we’re going to trade out of this pick to have that player,’then we wouldn’t have done it,” Spielman said. “But I think with us having the options to look at tomorrow, we were able to potentially get a player we may have taken at 30 and help ourselves with our slots.”

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