NFL Network’s Charles Davis on why he is projecting Malaki Starks to the Vikings at No. 24:
“Because one thing I like about really good organizations – I think the Vikings are one of those – is that you’re drafting not just for now, but you’re also looking ahead, and one of my favorite players of all-time is your Hitman – Harrison Smith. … Starks is the type of player that I think can emulate what Harrison has done throughout his career. I think you can use him in a variety of places. I like him best as a high safety; single-high safety, running the alley, making plays in there [with] physicality, speed, intelligence, all those things. And every time I’ve watched Harrison Smith play, I used to call him ‘The Fixer’ – and I have to be careful with that because, now with gambling, everybody thinks I’m [suggesting] something else. But he was a guy that if anything was going wrong on defense – I remember when Mike Zimmer was head coach, I just had this vision of Zim’ going, ‘Harrison, fix it.’ … Malaki Starks could be that type of a player.”