A Mini-Shift Back to Defense for Vikings Mock Drafts
Dustin Baker
|
The most consistently identified roster need for the Minnesota Vikings as April commences is the offensive line. Head coach Mike Zimmer has three men that can start — for sure — in Week 1. And those gentlemen are Brian O’Neill, Garrett Bradbury, and Ezra Cleveland.
But there are five other spots on an offensive line, so players like Rashod Hill, Mason Cole, Oli Udoh, and Dakota Dozier would be asked to start if the season began today. The season doesn’t kick off today, though. The Vikings may still sign a free agent such as Eric Fisher, Trai Turner, or Forrest Lamp. Otherwise, off to the NFL draft for young solutions they go.
However, a recent mini-batch of mock drafts has different plans. Yahoo Sports and NFL.com send a familiar face to the Vikings — Kwity Paye from the University of Michigan.
When mock-drafters deviate from the offensive-line need, Paye is the person tapped for Vikings duty more often than not.
Why? Well, onlookers are not entirely sure if right defensive end Stephen Weatherly is a startable asset. From left to right, the Vikings defensive line currently looks like this: (LDE) Danielle Hunter, (NT) Michael Pierce, (3DT), Dalvin Tomlinson, (RDE) Stephen Weatherly.
Weatherly joined the Vikings in free agency as the team’s first offseason signing. He played in Minnesota from 2016 to 2019 before jaunting down to the Carolina Panthers for one year of service.
Paye — if he is the pick for Minnesota at #14 — would start immediately. His upside mandates that the Vikings would instantly have a ferocious defensive line, a trait largely missing from the pandemic season due to widespread injury.
Hayden Winks from Yahoo Sports says of Paye to Minnesota:
“When asked about Minnesota’s No. 28 adjusted pass rush after last season, coach Mike Zimmer said, “A priority for me is that we continue to get more pass rushers.” They haven’t done that via free agency and easily could be the first team to select an edge rusher in the 2021 NFL Draft. Paye has the highest expected draft position (16) at the position after showing 87th percentile Adjusted SPARQ athleticism at his pro day.”
On the NFL.com side, Adam Rank writes:
“Here’s another raw pass rusher who is actually coming in at a pretty good value right here. If the Chargers ignore me (again, not offended) and go with Paye, I wouldn’t hesitate to rush the card up there for Rosseau. The thing is, Minnesota, you used to be really good on defense. Those days are over now. But Paye would help push you back in the right direction. “
And The Draft Network skinny on the Michigan EDGE rusher:
“Kwity Paye is an exciting prospect whose potential and physical ability is only now beginning to be realized on the gridiron. There’s an extremely high ceiling in Paye’s game thanks to his athletic abilities; if his NFL team is able to continue to draw fundamental improvements out of him to allow him to continue to simply react to discard or defeat blocks, he’ll be in line for plenty of explosive plays in opposing backfields. The steps Paye made in 2020 during the abbreviated season should only further fuel optimism that his development is still on an upward trajectory. Paye has won in the past most sufficiently from tight alignments and utilized his powerful hands and functional strength to diminish angles and find creases to press through and rally to the football. I do feel he’s a bit more of a linear athlete and his ability to collapse tackle sets with speed to power is going to shine more frequently than his reps when looking to crash off the edge and win with finesse. Paye has been forged by fire through a challenging upbringing as an immigrant and finds his “why” in taking care of his family — he’s internally driven and appears to be the kind of individual you want in your building to buy into the process. He’s a home run from an intangibles, effort and tools perspective but his scheme fit is an important accommodation to make for optimal success.”
Paye gets darn close to filling roster need and best player available for the Vikings. Some notable pass-rushers from the University of Michigan over the last 20 years include Brandon Graham, Frank Clark, and LaMarr Woodley.
Be assured, though — if the Vikings “skip” offensive line in 1st Round of the draft, big uglies will pepper the later rounds of the draft.