Vikings trade edge rusher Jonathan Greenard to the Eagles for a pair of 3rd-round draft picks

The Minnesota Vikings traded edge rusher Jonathan Greenard to the Philadelphia Eagles for two third-round picks, one this year and one next year, in a future-looking move on the second night of the NFL draft on Friday.

The Vikings sent the 2024 Pro Bowler and one of their three seventh-round picks this year, 244th overall, to the Eagles for the 98th overall selection this year and a third-rounder in 2027.

“We just felt like we had a really good D-line, but we wanted to elevate it to another level,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said.

The 28-year-old Greenard, who had been seeking a new contract and a trade if he didn’t get one from the Vikings, subsequently agreed to a four-year, $100 million contract extension including $50 million in fully guaranteed money, his agent Drew Rosenhaus confirmed.

Greenard was scheduled to carry a salary cap hit of more than $22 million this season, creating space the Vikings can take advantage of in the future as they attempt to reset their roster following a 9-8 finish and the firing of general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

“He’s a leader. He’s a captain. He’s an impact player. It’s something that we understand is not making the Minnesota Vikings a better team today, but there’s a lot of factors involved, particularly the economics,” interim general manager and executive vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski said. “We have just spent so much money the last several years that it’s not sustainable for us to move forward. Our salary cap situation has been very, very challenging.”

The Eagles had a need after letting edge rusher Jaelen Phillips leave in free agency. Greenard was expendable given the emergence last year of 2024 first-round draft pick Dallas Turner and the overall excellence when healthy of fellow outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel. Greenard was limited to 12 games in 2025 by a shoulder injury. He had three sacks, after tallying 12 sacks in his Vikings debut in 2024. Greenard signed in free agency after four seasons with the Houston Texans, who drafted him in the third round in 2020 out of Florida.

The trade gave the Vikings a fifth top-100 selection in the draft this year, plus four waiting in 2027. They took Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks in the first round (18th overall) and Cincinnati linebacker Jake Golday (51st overall) in the second round after moving down two spots in a trade with Carolina. They upgraded a sixth-rounder to a fifth-rounder in that swap with the Panthers.

The Vikings used the pick from the Eagles at No. 98 to take safety Jakobe Thomas from Miami.

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