Call it a hunch or call it a gamble, but the Vikings spent the 166th pick on Tanor Bortolini, a name most had 40 spots down the list. Little went right, and the F does not pretend otherwise.
Everything downstream of Caleb Williams depends on Caleb Williams, and the building knows it. The dealing is the wound this class cannot quite close.
Spending an early pick on OLB-EDGE with edge rusher, wide receiver and other spots open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. They will regret leaving edge rusher for another day if the season turns on it.
If one pick saves this weekend, it is Wright. They are betting the present roster is worth a lighter draft next spring.
There is no soft landing here: they fought the board and left edge rusher open, and the grade is the bill.
Pick-by-Pick
R1.2
· Pick 2
· Caleb Williams
· QB
· rank 2
In the 2nd pick they get the face of the franchise. The biggest hole, addressed.
R2.10
· Pick 42
· Kamren Kinchens
· S
· rank 37
Good price on Kamren Kinchens in Round 2, Pick 10, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
R4.8
· Pick 108
· Javon Solomon
· OLB-EDGE
· rank 108
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Javon Solomon adds an OLB-EDGE and leaves edge rusher, wide receiver and other spots untouched.
R4.30
· Pick 130
· Jarrian Jones
· CB
· rank 121
Quietly one of the better values of the day, Jarrian Jones at the Round 4 slot. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
R5.12
· Pick 148
· Cam Hart
· CB
· rank 133
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Cam Hart at pick 148 is the proof. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
R5.24
· Pick 160
· Justin Rogers
· DL
· rank 157
Justin Rogers in pick No. 160 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
R5.30
· Pick 166
· Tanor Bortolini
· C
· rank 206
They talked themselves into Tanor Bortolini at the Round 5 slot, and the board did not agree. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
R6.4
· Pick 179
· Jaylen Wright
· RB
· rank 154
Jaylen Wright at slot 179 is the steal of the weekend, a first-round talent at a bargain-bin price. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
R7.10
· Pick 230
· BJ Mayes
· CB
· rank 221
Value with a capital V on BJ Mayes in pick 230, a genuine coup. Depth on depth, at a spot that was hardly crying out.
