B-
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings checked most of the boxes and earned a B-.
by niingosis ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 3 steals
· 2 reaches
If confidence were a draft strategy, the Vikings would have aced it. Taulia Tagovailoa at pick 232 is 58 spots clear of where he belonged.
That is a wide receiver worth more than the slot they spent on him, plainly. Leaving safety unaddressed is the roster risk they will have to answer for in the fall. On the needs board they went 4 of 8, with quarterback the one that mattered most.
A tidy weekend of work that should hold up just fine.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 11 they get a problem off the edge at fair value. The biggest hole, addressed.
In slot 23 they get a ballhawk on the outside. Need was not the driver here.
They paid a round early for Spencer Rattler in pick No. 108, more than the board wanted. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
Blake Fisher in the Round 4 slot is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They will replay Jaylin Simpson at the 157th pick for years; that is how good the value is. A want more than a need, though you can never have too many.
They did well to land Xavier Thomas in Round 5, Pick 31, just ahead of his grade. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
They paid sticker price for Layden Robinson in pick No. 177, and that is fine. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Tahj Washington in slot 230 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A wild overpay on Taulia Tagovailoa in Round 7, Pick 12, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.