B-
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings let Rouse fall and pounced. Final grade: B-.
by Vk ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 6 steals
· 0 reaches
You can lose a draft before you make a pick. The Vikings did it at the trade table, overpaying to chase players the board did not price nearly as high. Good, not great, and the B- says as much.
The edge rusher hole is the one line item this class does not answer. However the rest shakes out, Rouse at that price is a win they earned.
It is a bet on later, and a defensible one for a team playing the long game. They left with quarterback solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 32 they get a disruptive interior force, outstanding value to boot. A clean fit for the roster.
They paid sticker price for J.J. McCarthy in the 42nd overall pick, and that is fine. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Trey Benson at the 109th pick is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. A need, and now a little less of one.
Jarvis Brownlee Jr. in the Round 4 slot is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Tykee Smith in No. 156. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Kamal Hadden is a better player than slot 179 suggests; smart patience, rewarded. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
The board fumbled Walter Rouse all the way to pick 190, and they scooped it up. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A tidy little value on Jordan Magee in Round 7, Pick 28, a step better than break-even. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.