B
Minnesota Vikings
Daniels is the Vikings' new face under center. Grade: B.
by kgrundseth ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 11 picks
· 4 steals
· 2 reaches
After circling the position for what felt like forever, the Vikings committed. Jayden Daniels is the quarterback now, and the roster gets built to his timeline. The bottom line is a respectable B.
Getting Smith-Wade where they did is the sort of value that quietly makes a class. The phones were where this weekend was really won.
If Watts pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. For all the activity, interior defensive lineman went untouched, which is hard to explain.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 5 they get a passer to set the clock by. The biggest hole, addressed.
No edge and no loss on Chris Braswell in the 42nd overall pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Isaac Guerendo at pick 107 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
They robbed the room for Brenden Rice here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
Circle this one: Josh Newton at the Round 5 slot is a fall that decides a draft. A minor need, but a need all the same.
They will replay Chau Smith-Wade at pick No. 166 for years; that is how good the value is. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
A clean, defensible pick in the 184th pick with a little surplus value in Caedan Wallace. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They went early on Eric Watts in slot 187, and the value did not follow. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Tip Reiman in pick No. 230 is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
Nathan Thomas in pick 232 should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
The board had cheaper options than Dominique Hampton at the 251st overall pick, and it noticed. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.