Latest Mock Draft from ‘The Athletic’ Is Delicious for Vikings
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings hold the No.. 23 overall pick in April’s draft, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s second with the team. The club has just four draft picks as of February 23rd but is expected to land a fifth when compensatory selections are announced.
And at any given time, fans can scour the internet for hundreds of mock drafts and basically find any player of their desire, within reason, drafted to the Vikings.
Latest Mock Draft from ‘The Athletic’ Is Delicious for Vikings
Moral of the story? Well, mock drafts truly mean nothing unless they’re predictive in the final days before the draft when experts try to “get it right.”
Still, the idea posed by The Athletic this week is delicious, chiefly because it addresses a roster need long ignored by Minnesota — defensive tackle. The Athletic’s Alec Lewis chose Bryan Bresee from Clemson for the Vikings, an outstanding selection.
Lewis explained the selection, “Selecting a cornerback made sense. Trading down was also an option. Bryan Bresee, though, plugs a key gap in the Vikings’ roster. He has pass-rushing potential for a defensive line that needs it, especially considering the Vikings’ current depth at the position.”
“Minnesota needed more help at the spot. The injury history (an ACL tear and kidney infection) is notable, but ultimately, the future outlook and upside bode well for a new-look defense under coordinator Brian Flores,” he concluded.
These are the Vikings solutions at defensive tackle since 2016 at Bresee’s spot:
- 2016 = Shamar Stephen
- 2017 = Tom Johnson
- 2018 = Sheldon Richardson
- 2019 = Shamar Stephen
- 2020 = Jaleel Johnson
- 2021 = Armon Watts
- 2022 = Jonathan Bullard
It’s time to swing for the fences and become murderous in the middle of the defensive line rather than habitually relying on the EDGE rushers to torment quarterbacks. Bresee would bring the torment.
Jonathan Bullard filled the job in 2022 and is now a free agent. Adofo-Mensah should prioritize the spot. Bullard did a serviceable job when healthy, but he did not add extra pizazz or production as a defensive tackle, and the Vikings pass rush correspondingly struggled much of the time.
The Draft Network described Bresee, “He’s twitchy and can rip through lateral contact in order to uncover and then flash to the football with suddenness. He’s capable of gearing down and flattening down the line of scrimmage out of these gap charges to get into pursuit of the football.”
The knock on Bresee? It’s familiar for recent Vikings draftees — injury history. He’s played less than 500 snaps in the last two seasons at Clemson, and his stock on April 27th could fall accordingly.
But injury history didn’t faze Adofo-Mensah last year and assuming Bresee’s injury woes are behind him, it would be marvelous for Minnesota to, alas, employ a ferocious defensive lineman in the interior trenches.
The NFL draft is less than nine weeks away.
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 Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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