Vikings Mysteriously Trade Armon Watts For Texans' Ex-Second Round Pick

Ross Blacklock #90 of the Houston Texans with Brandon Aiyuk #11 of the San Francisco 49ers Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

The Vikings trade Armon Watts to the Texans for Ross Blacklock
The Steelers now have a more veteran depth after acquiring Jesse Davis from the Vikings
Kelly Mond has also been waived by the Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings continue to overhaul their roster by dealing away and replacing some players.

The latest one to be sent packing is a starting defensive linebacker in Armon Watts.

The 26-year-old defensive end was traded to the Houston Texans in exchange for a former second-round pick in the form of Ross Blacklock, per the official announcement.

This trade comes not long after the Vikings traded backup offensive lineman Jesse Davis to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Davis gives Pittsburgh added depth and could eventually be a future starter for the Steelers.

The deal also saved Minnesota roughly $1.5 million this year.

After cutting Joe Haeg and John Leglue, Davis is expected to fill in the offensive void over in Pittsburgh.

With regards to the Vikings-Texans deal, Houston will receive a 2023 sixth-round pick and a 2023 seventh-rounder from Minnesota.

Conversely, the Vikings received a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

The trade comes as a surprise final cut.

Watts started in nine games in 2021 and exited the preseason as one of the Vikings' expected first-teamers along the defensive line.

His departure also comes a year after where he logged a career-best 46 tackles, five sacks, and ten quarterback hits.

This also saves Minnesota nearly $2.6 million for the coming NFL season.

Blacklock is expected to replace Watts in the team's new 3-4 front as he was the 40th overall pick of the Texans out of TCU and primarily played as a defensive tackle for Houston, serving as the backup to Maliek Collins.

Blacklock got off to a rough start in his rookie season but improved in 2021 where he finished with 22 tackles, two sacks, and six quarterback hits.

However, he sat out the Texans' preseason finale as he continues to recover from a foot injury.

In related news, quarterback Kelly Mond will not be getting a second season in Minnesota.

According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, the third-round pick from the 2021 draft will be waived.

Some thought that he had what it took to possibly take over from Kirk Cousins.

Unfortunately, his rookie season did not go well which led to him not getting many chances under Mike Zimmer.