The Minnesota Vikings have typically done the prudent things come draft time. If there’s a need, fill it with a player that best fills that void. Simple.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is a smart guy, so he already knows that cornerback or maybe defensive tackle would be the wise positions to address early. But maybe this year, Minnesota doesn’t do the smart thing, and they do what they should’ve been doing all along.
In the NFL Draft, there are two routes to take for every pick. Either take the player that solves a need, or pick the best player available and figure out the rest later. Sometimes those two situations overlap, and the decision is easy. More often than not, though, Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings have leaned towards filling a need, but it’s actually the times they pepper in some risk that have produced the best picks.
Adofo-Mensah has selected five first-round picks in his tenure with the Vikings, and his best picks by far are the ones he really had no business making.
In 2023, the Vikings selected wide receiver Jordan Addison in the first round. At the time, a pass-catcher wasn’t necessarily the biggest need of the team. Kirk Cousins had just thrown for 4,500 yards the previous season, Justin Jefferson and K.J. Osborn were a solid duo, with Jalen Nailor waiting in the wings. Minnesota had also just made a mid-season trade for T.J. Hockenson. Conversely, the Vikings were hoping that Byron Murphy Jr. alone could fix a cornerback room that included 33-year-old Patrick Peterson, Chandon Sullivan, and Cameron Dantzler.
Addison has obviously proven to be a good football player over the years, and one shudders to think what might have happened if Minnesota instead took cornerback Deonte Banks, who went one pick later to the New York Giants.
The Vikings made a similar move one year later in 2024, trading up for a falling Dallas Turner despite just signing Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel for a combined $100 million. There was no need for Turner at the time. Still, due to injuries last year, the first-round pick found his groove and led the Vikings in sacks with eight.
Obviously, fans all remember the Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth draft. And while there’s still a lot to be written in the J.J. McCarthy story, early returns are so-so at best. But it’s clear that the Vikings, despite some opinions of the fanbase, know how to identify talent. Their issues arise when they try to do the smart thing and fix a hole, instead of taking a player that may or may not fit, but offers the highest ceiling.
Not convinced? Look at other teams that have already figured this out. The Chicago Bears already had Cole Kmet, a 25-year-old tight end who consistently reeled in 50 to 60 passes a year. Not to mention D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze at receiver. So what do they do? They grab tight end Colston Loveland 10th overall and receiver Luther Burden in the next round. Loveland led the Bears in receiving as a rookie.
The Detroit Lions grabbed running back Jahmyr Gibbs after signing David Montgomery. The Las Vegas Raiders took Brock Bowers one year after using the 35th pick on Michael Mayer. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers snagged receiver Emeka Egbuka in the first round this year for a room that already boasted Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The list goes on of teams taking players they probably shouldn’t have, but who ended up completely uplifting the franchise.
Of course, there are plenty of cases where players didn’t work out, and the GM is left looking like an idiot. But with the Vikings, the floor is already so high so long as Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw, Jonathan Greenard, and a select few are on the roster. While frustrating, Minnesota has proven it can weather some bad drafts. So why not swing for the fences with a top talent regardless of the fit or current need?
In this upcoming draft, Minnesota is widely expected to select a cornerback, defensive tackle, or maybe even a running back. They all make sense; there are obvious needs at each of those positions. Hopefully, a scenario emerges where the best player at No. 18 is one of those positions. However, if not, the Vikings need to do what has brought them the most success.
Maybe it comes out before the draft that edge Rueben Bain Jr. hates puppies, or offensive tackle Spencer Fano pours milk first, and then cereal, and the top-10 talents start dropping. Edge and tackle aren’t of great need for Minnesota at the moment, but you’ll never go broke making a profit.
The bottom line is that the Vikings are sometimes too smart for their own good. There are times when the safe option may not be the best option. But with a great coaching staff and some elite players, Minnesota needs to figure out sooner rather than later that it’s actually the safe plays that are sinking the ship, not the risky ones.