B+
Minnesota Vikings
Best value of the weekend goes to the Vikings for Johnson: B+.
by ArthurVikes ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
Call it larceny. Cornelius Johnson sat on the board until Round 7, Pick 12, and the Vikings did not need to be asked twice. No fireworks, but a solid B+.
They won the margins on every swap, and it adds up fast. Every board in the league had Milton III lower, and that gap is the story.
For all the activity, safety went untouched, which is hard to explain. They went 6 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for.
Good work on the whole, with safety the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 11 they get a disruptor off the edge at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
In pick 24 they get a premier pass rusher. Exactly the need they had to hit.
They took Dominick Puni at par in the 87th pick, which is nothing to complain about. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Cedric Gray at Round 4, Pick 8 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.
Good price on Theo Johnson in the 129th overall pick, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Taking Johnny Wilson in the Round 5 slot is close to grand larceny; a wide receiver that good had no business lasting this long. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They barely believed it either: Nehemiah Pritchett still on the board at slot 167. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
A wild overpay on Joe Milton III in No. 177, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
You do not let an offensive lineman like Julian Pearl reach the 230th overall pick and blink. They did not. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
The board fumbled Cornelius Johnson all the way to the Round 7 slot, and they scooped it up. A need, and now a little less of one.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Jowon Briggs this early at pick 244. It patches a soft spot without any drama.