The 2026 NFL Draft is months away, but the start of college football season is upon us. With that comes prospects getting their eyes on them, and for fans, it means they get to start learning who their team may draft.

The Vikings are coming off a draft with limited picks, but they’re now heading into 2026 reloaded. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has shown he can build a roster through free agency, but the draft remains a work in progress. He has improved significantly since his first class in 2022, but 2026 is expected to be a pivotal year.

The latest mock draft we get to see before the start of the college season comes from Bleacher Report’s Scouting Department. Last week, a mock draft had the Vikings selecting Tennessee cornerback Jermaine McCoy, but this time around, it is another cornerback, Avieon Terrell.

They discuss the selection of Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell, writing, “Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has been able to cobble together the Vikings’ defense every season in a new, weirder way than before. . .Clemson’s Avieon Terrell is a talented, fluid athlete who constantly attacks the ball at the catch point. He has the recovery speed and length to play man-coverage and the eye discipline and route-recognition to succeed in zone. Terrell would be a great addition to a Flores’ aggressive defensive scheme, which, in turn, could help the defensive back grow into an even better player.” 

Terrell is among the best cornerback prospects in the class and is someone we scouted this Summer. We liked some of his traits and wrote a positive scouting report about him in the summer.

“Avieon Terrell is going to be right up there in competition for the top cornerback in the draft in 2026. If he were eligible in 2025, he would’ve also been in that conversation. Terrell has great physical gifts that he uses to stay with receivers and win man coverage assignments repeatedly. I really appreciate watching Terrell tackle when he is one-on-one with ball carriers in the open field. Not many college cornerbacks can tackle as well as he can, but when they do, they see their stock skyrocket come April.”