These Are All the Vikings Draft Picks
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings will continue Year No. 3 of their self-professed competitive rebuild in the next several months, tabulating a 20-14 (.588) record along the way while adding players like T.J. Hockenson, Jordan Addison, Ivan Pace Jr., Ty Chandler, and Mekhi Blackmon, among others, to the roster.
These Are All the Vikings Draft Picks
And as general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah formulates a draft plan for the end of April, he’ll officially have nine picks entering the event, although that number is almost certain to change because the young executive loves trading during the draft.
So, without further ado, these are the Vikings’ draft picks unless Adofo-Mensah wheels and deals:
- Round 1 (No. 11 overall)
- Round 2 (No. 43 overall)
- Round 4 (from DET)
- Round 4
- Round 5 (from KC)
- Round 5 (from CLE)
- Round 6 (from CAR through JAX)
- Round 6 (from LV through NE)
- Round 7 (conditional from ATL through ARZ)
Of course, Vikings fans will singularly focus on the first pick for the next 3.5 months — perhaps rightfully so — as the franchise can either draft an impact defender with the 11th pick or go all-in on a quarterback of the future. Incumbent starter Kirk Cousins, who was lost halfway through the 2023 season with a torn Achilles, is a free agent, and if Minnesota doesn’t extend him by a year or two, he will hit the open market and formally end the Cousins era in Minneapolis.
But some momentum persists on Cousins’ return to Minnesota for a seventh season. The Vikings’ decision on the soon-to-be 36-year-old is the first and more influential offseason domino.
Minnesota also has a 2nd-Round pick this year — they didn’t last year, spending it on a deal in November 2022 on the deal that acquired T.J. Hockenson — so the Vikings have two picks in the Top 45.
Interestingly, Minnesota failed to nail down a productive running back tandem in 2023, mixing and matching between Alexander Mattison and Ty Chandler. Mattison never got off the ground as an RB1, but Chandler showed a few glimpses of promise late in the season. In theory, the Vikings could spend the 2nd-Round pick on a tailback and possibly grab the best or second-best runner of the class.
As always, remember the trade ardor possessed by Adofo-Mensah. The Vikings don’t organically possess the draft capital necessary to draft Caleb Williams (USC), Drake Maye (North Carolina), or Jayden Daniels (LSU) in Round 1. Yet, living in the No. 11 hole is a decent spot to inquire about a trade up the board. A couple of rumors in the last year suggested Adofo-Mensah was willing to “trade the farm” for Anthony Richardson or Bryce Young in 2023, so, theoretically, he could do that this time for Maye, for example.
The 2024 NFL draft is 107 days 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,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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