The Vikings did not so much draft Julius Welschof as overpay for him, 99 picks clear of his grade. It sets an uneasy tone for the weekend. About as rough as the board gets, and a F to prove it.
They lost the exchange badly enough to drag the whole class down. Caleb Williams gives the offense a face and a plan, and the grade leans heavily on whether he hits. With running back, wide receiver and other spots unsolved, spending premium capital on DT-EDGE is the choice that costs them.
They will regret leaving running back for another day if the season turns on it. That Smith pick is the receipt they will wave around later. Spend now, pay later; the math only works if this class delivers.
There is no soft landing here: they fought the board and left running back open, and the grade is the bill.
Pick-by-Pick
R1.2
· Pick 2
· Caleb Williams
· QB
· rank 2
In pick 2 they get a passer to set the clock by at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
R2.8
· Pick 40
· Bralen Trice
· DE-EDGE
· rank 39
No edge and no loss on Bralen Trice in No. 40; it is a wash and a sensible one. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
R2.10
· Pick 42
· Kamren Kinchens
· S
· rank 37
Good price on Kamren Kinchens in the 42nd overall pick, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
R4.8
· Pick 108
· Maason Smith
· DT-EDGE
· rank 87
A curious use of slot 108. Running back, wide receiver and other spots needed the pick; a DT-EDGE in Maason Smith did not.
R4.30
· Pick 130
· Jarrian Jones
· CB
· rank 121
Jarrian Jones slipping to Round 4, Pick 30 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
R5.12
· Pick 148
· Kamal Hadden
· CB
· rank 134
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Kamal Hadden in pick No. 148. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
R5.24
· Pick 160
· Austin Booker
· DL-EDGE
· rank 156
Fair-plus on Austin Booker, a quiet win that adds up over a draft. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
R5.30
· Pick 166
· Zion Tupuola-Fetui
· DE-EDGE
· rank 165
They took Zion Tupuola-Fetui at par in the 166th pick, which is nothing to complain about. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
R6.4
· Pick 179
· Ethan Driskell
· OT
· rank 182
By-the-book stuff, Ethan Driskell at the 179th overall pick squarely in line with his ranking. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
R6.6
· Pick 181
· Kingsley Eguakun
· C
· rank 214
Kingsley Eguakun in pick 181 is a reach so steep the board needed a second look to believe it. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
R7.10
· Pick 230
· Julius Welschof
· DL-EDGE
· rank 329
Julius Welschof at pick No. 230 is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
