A-
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings turned the phones into found money: A-.
by dan ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 18 picks
· 13 steals
· 3 reaches
They will call it conviction in the building and a reach everywhere else: Braiden McGregor, 66 picks early at the Round 5 slot.
That Mustapha pick is the receipt they will wave around later. The dealing alone would carry a lesser class.
They will answer for taking cornerback early while tight end went begging. The tight end hole is the one line item this class does not answer.
Bottom line, with Olumuyiwa Fashanu leading the way, this is a class that should pay off fast and rarely be regretted.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 17 they get protection for the quarterback. Exactly the need they had to hit.
A slide stopped in the 33rd overall pick, with Kool-Aid McKinstry worth more than the price. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
Somehow Keon Coleman was still sitting there in pick 48, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Edgerrin Cooper in Round 3, Pick 1 lands just on the right side of the ledger. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Caelen Carson adds a cornerback and leaves tight end untouched.
Circle this one: Blake Corum at No. 101 is a fall that decides a draft. A need, and now a little less of one.
Blake Fisher at pick 130 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Justin Rogers at the Round 5 slot is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A real head-scratcher, Braiden McGregor in pick No. 157 is miles ahead of his ranking. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Gabe Hall at slot 160 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Luke McCaffrey in No. 167 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Taking Cedric Gray in the 168th pick is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
They robbed the room for Malik Mustapha here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Jaylin Simpson at Round 6, Pick 10 is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
A top-tier offensive lineman at a bargain, LaDarius Henderson in the Round 6 slot, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Roger Rosengarten in No. 211 is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They barely believed it either: Rasheen Ali still on the board at the 230th pick. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A offensive lineman of that caliber at pick 237 is the definition of value, full stop. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.