Vikings Live in Familiar Spot via CBS Sports Post-Draft Power Rankings
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings just cannot shake the mediocrity label from the masses.
CBS Sports, among other NFL media entities, released post-draft power rankings on Tuesday, and unsurprisingly, the Vikings were considered the league’s 20th-best team.
And that’s about where the Vikings lived toward the end of the 2021 regular season in these pecking orders. Minnesota finished 8-9 last season, one game out of the postseason’s seventh seed.
Pete Prisco of CBS Sports explained the Vikings at #20, “New coach Kevin O’Connell inherits a team that should be able roll up big numbers on offense; the question is the defense, but they will be better on that side than they were a year ago after spending a lot of draft capital on it.”
Usually when the Vikings receive ho-hum preseason recognition, pundits and fans see Kirk Cousins as QB1 and immediately slap on an even-steven diagnosis. For folks who cherish “quarterback record” as an astute statistic, Cousins has a career win-loss of 59-59-2 (.500). Unlike Matthew Stafford, who posted an upside-down QB record before joining the Los Angeles Rams, Cousins’ critics do not believe he’s capable of much more than a .500 season.
Still, the Vikings recommitted to Cousins through the end of the 2023 season at a price tag of $35 million per season.
Additionally, new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah welcomed these new players to the organization via free agency:
- Harrison Phillips, DT (BUF)
- Jordan Hicks, LB (ARI)
- Johnny Mundt, TE (LAR)
- Austin Schlottmann, G/C (DEN)
- Za’Darius Smith, EDGE (GB)
- Chandon Sullivan, CB (GB)
- Jesse Davis, OL (MIA)
- Nate Hairston, CB (DEN)
- Tye Smith, CB (MIN)
- Chris Reed, RG (IND)
- Jullian Taylor, DT (TEN)
After that, the NFL Draft took place, and Minnesota drafted 10 new players after a whirlwind of trades during the event. This is the draft class:
- R1: Lewis Cine, S (Georgia)
- R2: Andrew Booth Jr., CB (Clemson)
- R2: Ed Ingram, G (LSU)
- R3: Brian Asamoah, LB (Oklahoma)
- R4: Akayleb Evans, CB (Missouri)
- R5: Esezi Otomewo, DE (Minnesota)
- R5: Ty Chandler, RB (North Carolina)
- R6: Vederian Lowe, OT (Illinois)
- R6: Jalen Nailor, WR (Michigan State)
- R7: Nick Muse, TE (South Carolina)
Other power-ranking outfits echo Prisco’s opinion. NBC Sports tosses the Vikings into the #21 hole. NFL.com is even lower at #22. And with the most scathing of feedback, Bleacher Report checked the Vikings in at #22, too.
Generally speaking, the Vikings are considered power-ranking bedfellows for 2022 with teams like Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New Orleans Saints.
The 2022 regular season schedule will release on May 12th.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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