B
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings fleeced the room on the phones and earned a B.
by B ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 2 steals
· 4 reaches
The Dillon Gabriel selection is the head-turner. The Vikings reached 48 spots for him, and it will define how this weekend is remembered. It does the job without flash, and the B reflects it.
The dealing alone would carry a lesser class. It is not that Nubin is a bad player; it is that the Vikings had louder needs to answer first. Sturdivant falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch.
That safety hole did not close this weekend, and it was the biggest one on the wall.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
A want over a need in slot 28: Tyler Nubin adds a defensive back while safety, tight end and other spots keeps waiting.
They paid a round early for Blake Corum in the 52nd pick, more than the board wanted. A need, and now a little less of one.
Payton Wilson in the Round 3 slot is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Darius Robinson at pick No. 120 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
The board had Jack Nelson higher than the 157th overall pick, and the offensive lineman fell to them anyway. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A real head-scratcher, Jaylan Ford in No. 168 is miles ahead of his ranking. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
You do not let a wide receiver like J. Michael Sturdivant reach slot 179 and blink. They did not. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They reached a country mile for Dillon Gabriel at No. 241, and the board is aghast. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.