B+
Minnesota Vikings
McCarthy is the Vikings' new face under center. Grade: B+.
by bwbry ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 2 steals
· 8 reaches
The Tyler Harrell pick is the one that will follow the Vikings into the fall. They took him 148 spots ahead of his grade, and the board is not shy about saying so. It does the job without flash, and the B+ reflects it.
The whole projection now runs through J.J. McCarthy; hit there and everything else looks smarter. They robbed the room blind at the table, and it lifts the grade on its own.
Braswell falling to them is the kind of break a good board is built to catch.
Not a headline-grabber, but a perfectly good weekend's work.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 30 they get the arm they will build around, though they paid up to get him. The biggest hole, addressed.
Byron Murphy II at the 48th pick is money in the bank, a interior defensive lineman taken below his worth. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A conviction pick on Brenden Rice at slot 62 that the board grades a round light. The roster fit checks out.
They paid a round early for Sedrick Van Pran in pick No. 73, more than the board wanted. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Chris Braswell at pick 79 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
By-the-book stuff, Zak Zinter at No. 96 squarely in line with his ranking. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
DJ James at the 108th pick is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A minor itch, scratched.
Javon Foster at the 130th overall pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Grayson Murphy at No. 148 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They paid sticker price for Austin Booker in Round 5, Pick 24, and that is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
No edge and no loss on Frank Gore Jr. in the Round 5 slot; it is a wash and a sensible one. A need, and now a little less of one.
They liked Josh Proctor enough to skip the value, taking him in pick No. 179. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Brevyn Spann-Ford at slot 208 is a conviction pick that outran the value. It fills a real need, too.
A wild overpay on Tyler Harrell in pick 211, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Eric Gentry at slot 230 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. Depth more than a fix, but depth they can use.