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PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 16: James Pierre #42 of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts after a tackle during the first quarter against the Cincinnati Bengals at Acrisure Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
After what was a fairly quiet free agency period, the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> are in a fairly strong position heading into the 2026 NFL Draft later this month.<\/p>\n However, at least with regards to the team\u2019s fortunes in the immediate future, two positions of need stick out like a sore thumb: defensive line and cornerback.<\/p>\n Outside of tweener Keldric Faulk, who has edge rusher\/3-4 defensive end dual capabilities, there are few options for the Vikings to pursue on the interior of the line, at least early on in the draft.<\/p>\n Yet at corner the Vikings have multiple options to go with in the first couple of rounds of the draft, from Mansoor Delane (who will probably be off the board by the time the Vikings select at #18), to Jermod McCoy to Chris Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n But according to The Athletic\u2019s Alec Lewis, Minnesota are actually unlikely to address the position early on in the draft.<\/p>\n Vikings Expected to Continue Corner Drafting Tradition<\/p>\n \u201cThe Vikings haven\u2019t used a first- or second-round pick on a cornerback since Flores arrived, and I don\u2019t expect them to start now, especially after signing free agent James Pierre<\/a>.\u201d Lewis wrote<\/a> on April 14, in a piece examining what direction the team might go in for their first round draft pick, if they decide to not take a safety.<\/p>\n Lewis has subsequently posited that wideout \u2013 or perhaps more likely, receiver \u2013 are potential position groups that could be added to in the first two rounds of the draft instead.<\/p>\n \u201cThe [offensive] tackle position caused headaches throughout the 2025 season.\u201d Lewis noted<\/a> on April 16. \u201cThere are also plenty of prospects at both positions that align with where the Vikings are picking. A first-round receiver is less likely than a first-round tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Would the Vikings Decide to Not Pick a Corner Early On?<\/p>\n The implication of the piece is that defensive coordinator Brian Flores is behind the strategic decision to not add corners early on in the draft, presumably given his perceived ability to make do with lower round draft picks at the position.<\/p>\n Much of that ideology comes from Flores\u2019 blitz-heavy scheme that forces opposing quarterbacks to get the ball out quickly, necessitating less coverage time from defensive backs.<\/p>\n So far that theory has worked, the Vikings had the #1 total passing defense in football in 2025, conceding an average of just 158.5 passing yards per game..<\/p>\n And perhaps in support of that idea has been the disappointment of some the team\u2019s more recent early-round draft picks including Andrew Booth Jr<\/a>.; the last corner Minnesota selected in the first two rounds of the draft back in 2022; who started just 4 games for the franchise before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys<\/a>.<\/p>\n Still, a tandem of James Pierre and Isaiah Rodgers<\/a> on the perimeter of the secondary will hardly inspire vast amounts of confidence, and it could be that 2026 is the year that this short drafting streak finally comes to an end.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDaniel Arwas<\/a> Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com.\u00a0Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics\u00a0and\u00a0The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Vikings\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA – NOVEMBER 16: James Pierre #42 of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts after a tackle during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-867980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-vikings","11":"tag-minnesotavikings","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116416712699811132","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867980","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=867980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}