F
Minnesota Vikings
A franchise passer in Maye headlines a F weekend for the Vikings.
by SKOl ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 34 picks
· 4 steals
· 15 reaches
When the story of this class is written, it opens with Joe Milton III at the 141st overall pick, a reach of 59 spots that the board flatly disagrees with. A weekend to file away and forget, and an F to match.
Drake Maye gives the offense a face and a plan, and the grade leans heavily on whether he hits. The trade table is where this weekend went wrong. The Pearl pick alone nudges the whole weekend up a notch.
Spend now, pay later; the math only works if this class delivers.
Bottom line, it will take a lot of luck to make this look better later.
Pick-by-Pick
In No. 2 they get a long-term answer under center. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In the 4th pick they get a matchup problem out wide at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
In the 11th overall pick they get a plug-and-play piece up front. The biggest hole, addressed.
In pick No. 23 they get a bendy edge with upside at fair value. Exactly the need they had to hit.
No drama and no debate, Brian Thomas Jr. went about where he belonged in Round 1, Pick 27. It fills a real need, too.
In slot 31 they get a press-man option on the boundary. More want than need.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Tyler Guyton in pick No. 35. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Zach Frazier at Round 2, Pick 8 is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
Michael Hall Jr. at the Round 2 slot is the kind of overdraft that needs everything to break right. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
They reached into another round for Blake Corum, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A quiet steal in the 71st overall pick: Javon Bullard for less than the market said. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
They jumped the gun on Jonah Elliss, taking him earlier than his grade liked. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Mekhi Wingo well ahead of where he belonged. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
A big swing on Ben Sinnott at the 94th pick, well ahead of any board in the building. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
They reached a country mile for McKinnley Jackson at Round 4, Pick 4, and the board is aghast. A need, and now a little less of one.
Cedric Gray in slot 108 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
A market-rate cornerback, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Josh Newton. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
They took Beau Brade at par in pick No. 129, which is nothing to complain about. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Jarvis Brownlee Jr. in the 131st overall pick should not have been possible, and that is the whole point. Nice player, but the depth chart did not need him here.
The board had cheaper options than Tommy Eichenberg at No. 133, and it noticed. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
Marist Liufau at pick 138 is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. They doubled down on a strength rather than a need.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Joe Milton III in the Round 5 slot, miles early. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Value said wait; Tanor Bortolini in pick No. 152 says they were not listening. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
They paid sticker price for Jaheim Bell in pick 157, and that is fine. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
A wild overpay on Jase McClellan in the 162nd pick, the sort that defines a class for the wrong reasons. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They went early on Fabien Lovett in slot 167, and the value did not follow. The roster fit checks out.
Ty'Ron Hopper in Round 6, Pick 2 is fair value, right on his grade. A want dressed up as a pick, at a spot they had covered.
They paid a round early for Curtis Jacobs in the 186th overall pick, more than the board wanted. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
A straight-up fair deal on Evan Williams at No. 215, value and slot in agreement. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.
A real head-scratcher, Solomon Byrd in the Round 7 slot is miles ahead of his ranking. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Somehow Julian Pearl was still sitting there in slot 226, and they pounced on premier OT-EDGE value. Where it fits the depth chart is the real question.
No edge and no loss on Tylan Grable in the 230th overall pick; it is a wash and a sensible one. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Dominique Hampton at the Round 7 slot is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Nothing to complain about; Bub Means went a shade earlier than his grade, which is fine. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.