What Draft Picks do the Vikings have in April (For Now)?

Every year after the season ends, Vikings fans look forward to the start of free agency and the draft. The Purple has yet to win the Super Bowl and because of that, those two off-season times are always considered to be paramount as the hope is that the team will find that missing piece to the puzzle. Add to that the fact that the Vikings are, as of the writing of this piece, maxed out in terms of cap space, and it’s not hard to see why this may be the biggest draft for the Vikings in the Zimmer era.

So, let’s take a look at what picks the Vikings have in the 2020 NFL Draft, so we can lick our chops and think about who the team might add.

According to DailyNorseman.com, the picks the Vikings have (again, as of the writing of this article):

• First-round pick, #25 overall
• Second-round pick, #57 overall
• Third-round pick, #89 overall
• Fourth-round pick, TBD (remaining slots will be affected by Compensatory picks)
• Fourth-round pick, TBD (projected Compensatory pick for loss of Sheldon Richardson)
• Fifth-round pick, TBD (traded to Baltimore Ravens for Kaare Vedvik)
• Sixth-round pick, TBD
• Seventh-round pick, TBD (acquired from Miami Dolphins in trade for Danny Isidora)
• Seventh-round pick, TBD
• Seventh-round pick, TBD (projected Compensatory pick for loss of Tom Compton)
• Seventh-round pick, TBD (projected Compensatory pick for loss of Trevor Siemian)

The Vikings enter the 2020 draft with a serious need at corner, despite spending three top-60 picks on the position since 2015. Picking at no. 25, Rick Spielman and company won’t have a chance at Ohio State’s Jeff Okudah, who will be gone in the top ten. While I’d love that pick (based on the Big 10 connection), this team can not afford to take another corner in lieu of an offensive lineman for the fifth-time.

But in a draft that’s strong at receiver and O-line, at least one of Florida’s CJ Henderson, Alabama’s Trevon Diggs, and LSU’s Kristian Fulton will be on the board at 25, according to Paruk from Sports Betting Dime. Since Henderson is more of a longshot to still be available, perhaps Diggs would be a good consolation prize and a great story for the Vikings as he’d be playing opposite his brother, Stefon. The former WR has elite size and speed for the CB position and could give Minnesota the downfield cover corner it badly needs.

The younger Diggs is 6’2″ and 195-pounds, which, combined with his skills, might be too good to be true for Zimmer. Zimmer LOVES corners in general but especially corners with “length” and size, and considering that the Vikings may be losing Trae Waynes and/or Xavier Rhodes this off-season and that Mike Hughes is 5’10”, it wouldn’t surprise me if Diggs was the choice at 25 (leaving the offensive line for the second and… AND third round picks).

But, we’ll get there when we get there.

For now, it’s at least fun to speculate, but as we know with general manager Rick Spielman running the show, nothing is set in stone until, not even the day of the draft, but until the pick is final (and not traded). Things could change a lot and most likely will, as the Vikings have no cap space to work with, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Spielman loaded up on even more late-round picks to bring in as many fresh bodies as possible.

TL;DR – So, I guess this article was a waste of time. Or, an even bigger waste of time than most of my articles.