{"id":851155,"date":"2026-04-03T11:43:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851155\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:43:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:43:05","slug":"latest-nfl-draft-intel-gives-the-minnesota-vikings-a-chance-at-franchise-changing-player-they-didnt-have-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851155\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest NFL Draft intel gives the Minnesota Vikings a chance at franchise changing player they didn’t have before"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the first 348 NFL mock drafts collected, the Minnesota Vikings weren\u2019t sent Ohio State safety Caleb Downs a single time. This week, things have taken a major turn.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Ohio
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOhio State Buckeyes defensive back Caleb Downs catches a ball during Pro Day for NFL scouts at the Woody Hayes Athletics Center on March 25, 2026.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdam Cairns\/Columbus Dispatch \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings\u2019 offseason strategy has been one of the more fascinating to follow. They entered with more than $46 million in salary cap space and had to maneuver underneath the cap and add players to the roster.<\/p>\n

With interim general manager Rob Brzezinski<\/a>, there were questions about the approach. He made it clear at the NFL Owners Meetings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came in with the plan, a vision. We want it to be an organizational vision, as far as how we want to build this thing moving forward. We had certain things we were looking to do in free agency, and that included retaining some players that are really important to us, and also trying to work through some of the financial issues we have from the salary cap. I think we\u2019ve positioned that well, working to put the best team on the field for 2026 but also so we can sustain it into the future. And that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to look to do, is build this one step at a time and so far so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vikings interim GM Rob Brzezinski<\/p>\n

NFL Draft projections shift with 3 weeks to go<\/p>\n

When talking about the Vikings\u2019 NFL Draft strategy, it\u2019s currently focused on safety. In the first round through 348 collected mock drafts<\/a>, 137 of them have been two safety prospects: Oregon Ducks\u2019 Dillon Thieneman<\/a> (92) and Toledo Rockets\u2019 Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. One player who hasn\u2019t been sent to the Vikings in any of those is Ohio State\u2019s Caleb Downs.<\/p>\n

That has changed. So far this week, there have been three mock drafts that have sent the Vikings Downs.<\/p>\n

Before that, Downs had rarely gotten past the 10th overall pick. Grinding The Mocks<\/a> has Downs as the 7th-ranked player based on over 2,000 mock drafts, with an average draft position of 8.6. It makes sense why he isn\u2019t getting to 18th overall. So, why the change? <\/p>\n

Simply put: safeties fall in the NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Should Downs fall? No, but we said the same about Kyle Hamilton and Derwin James, and they fell to 14th and 17th, respectively. Even in a draft like this one, Downs could end up falling down the draft board. It could especially happen due to this safety class being loaded.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fascinating that it took this long for the Vikings to be sent Downs, but here we are.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Jan\t\t<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings News<\/p>\n

It\u2019s getting crazy how \u201ccertain\u201d analysts are about what the Vikings will do.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Clemson\t\t<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

A to Z Sports has launched its brand new mock draft simulator and the Minnesota Vikings should take notes after an excellent haul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout the first 348 NFL mock drafts collected, the Minnesota Vikings weren\u2019t sent Ohio State safety Caleb Downs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[613,7,233,259,2529,6,15,234,116522],"class_list":{"0":"post-851155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-caleb-downs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-vikings","12":"tag-minnesotavikings","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-draft","15":"tag-vikings","16":"tag-vikings-mock-drafts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116340602326106327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}