B+
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings did the meat-and-potatoes work well: B+.
by dschully ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 16 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
Of all the ways to open, the Vikings chose the head-scratcher, spending pick No. 121 on Kris Abrams-Draine with tight end still wide open. They moved the roster forward and banked a B+ for it.
A whole weekend of picks and tight end is somehow still a want. Mustapha falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch.
They are betting Ogunbiyi proves the room right and everyone else wrong.
All told, a solid class that does its job everywhere but tight end.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 16 they get a disruptor off the edge. The biggest hole, addressed.
Jonah Elliss slipping to pick No. 56 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Leonard Taylor III in the Round 4 slot is fair value, right on his grade. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They took Will Shipley at par in slot 114, which is nothing to complain about. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Max Melton in pick 116 lands just on the right side of the ledger. A minor need, but a need all the same.
A surprising call. With tight end still to address, they spent the 121st overall pick on Kris Abrams-Draine, a cornerback they were not short of.
Tommy Eichenberg at the 124th pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. It adds depth where they could use a little.
Jordan Travis in No. 130 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Malik Mustapha at Round 5, Pick 12 is the proof. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
A tidy little value on Edefuan Ulofoshio in the 159th pick, a step better than break-even. They added to a strength when a need was still open elsewhere.
LaDarius Henderson at slot 160 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They reached into another round for Aki Ogunbiyi, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
No drama and no debate, Javon Baker went about where he belonged in No. 179. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A conviction pick on Sam Hartman at pick 199 that the board grades a round light. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They read the board right and Blake Watson was the payoff at the 230th overall pick. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They did well to land Eric Gentry in pick No. 242, just ahead of his grade. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.