Breaking: The Vikings are on the verge of signing a very experienced cornerback from Kansas City.

But health concerns caused them to back out

The Minnesota Vikings added to their cornerback room this offseason by signing Shaq Griffin to a one-year deal about a week ago. However, they were trying to make a much bigger splash at the position but wound up backing out of a potential trade.

Pete Sweeney from our friends over at Arrowhead Pride brings us the news that the Vikings were considering a trade offer to the Kansas City Chiefs for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. They wound up backing out of the trade because of long-term health concerns.

According to Sweeney, the Vikings’ trade offer was a fourth-rounder in the 2024 NFL Draft and a third-rounder in 2025. That’s a much stronger deal than the one that the Chiefs ultimately accepted from the Tennessee Titans, which was a seventh-rounder in this April’s Draft and a third-rounder in 2025, along with the Chiefs getting a seventh back from Tennessee.

There isn’t anything specified about what, exactly, the Vikings’ concerns with Sneed’s health were, though Sneed did deal with a knee injury at various points throughout the 2023 season. He passed his physical with the Titans, however, and upon his arrival in Tennessee agreed to a new four-year, $76.4 million deal with $55 million in guaranteed money.

It appears from the way Sweeney is framing this that the Vikings and the Titans were the only two teams in on the Sneed sweepstakes. Sneed had the franchise tag placed on him by the Chiefs before the start of the new league year, but it was the non-exclusive version of the tag which allowed him to seek potential deals with other teams.

The Vikings might make more additions at cornerback either through the draft or the late stages of free agency this offseason, but they were prepared to take a swing at what would have been a huge prize at the position. Hopefully they won’t regret it down the track.