The Fans Have Spoken: It’s a DB for the First Round of the Vikings Draft

Josh Frey |

Jan 5, 2022

Cincinnati Bearcats cornerback Ahmad Gardner (1) celebrates a sack of Houston Cougars quarterback Clayton Tune (3) in the second quarter during the American Athletic Conference championship football game, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. Houston Cougars At Cincinnati Bearcats Aac Championship Dec 4

After the Minnesota Vikings fell to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, their final hopes for the playoffs were officially dashed. With that, my focus has almost entirely turned towards the 2022 NFL Draft. My goal is to try to get more of the readers involved in the discussion whenever possible, so early in the week, I took to Twitter to ask some Vikings fans their thoughts on the 2022 NFL Draft. Just over 600 of you voted, and here are the results:

#Vikings fans: Which position do you want the Vikings to draft in the first round? Feel free to list a specific player or a different position. @vikingterritory @purplePTSD
— Josh Frey (@Freyed_Chicken) January 3, 2022

The Expected

The fact that defensive back won this poll, and by a rather large margin, is not surprising in the least. That is arguably the deepest and most talented position in this draft class. Names like Derek Stingley Jr., Kyle Hamilton, Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner, and Andrew Booth Jr. are the headliners, but even after that, there are plenty of talented players including. Guys like Trent McDuffie, Roger McCreary, and Kaiir Elam come to mind. That is important for this Vikings draft process.

In all likelihood, both Stingley and Hamilton will be off the board by the time Minnesota picks. However, they could have their choice of any other corner in the 2022 draft class. That could prove to be huge for a Vikings team that, at times, really felt just one CB away from being very good against the pass. If the front office opts to go this path for the Vikings draft, my choice would be Sauce Gardner.

The Unexpected

Look, I understand that there is a large portion of Vikings fandom that doesn’t love Kirk Cousins. That said, nearly the same number of people wanting a quarterback as another piece to the offensive line seems high. I’ll do a film breakdown in the future of a few of these QBs, but for now, there just aren’t really special prospects, especially for where the Vikings will be picking in the first round. Second round and on? Maybe I can be convinced on a few guys, but there are some really special skill position guys in that first round.

Overall though, all I have to say is thank you to everyone that participated in the voting. It was a great way to interact with some more Vikings fans on Twitter. The goal with these polls is to give more of our readers a voice in the content. As we get closer to the Vikings draft, I will be doing more of these sorts of things, so stay tuned on Twitter.