Reflections on a Surprising Vikings Draft
The NFL Draft: a great time for speculation and the hope it brings, with the excitement of new players and possibilities. The fans love it!
When your team takes every player you thought they should you can sit back knowing that these players will be the ones that put your team over the hump for a championship. The reality is that they take some of the players you hoped they’d get and others that you have heard of, or they take prospects you never had on your radar. The last one was what the Vikings draft looked like this year for most draftniks and expert analysts.
Reflections on a Surprising Vikings Draft
Thursday night, I attended the Vikings Draft Party at U.S. Bank Stadium. I had never been, so I was looking forward to a new experience hanging with fellow fans right in the thick of it. After walking around and taking in a bit, KFAN’s Paul Allen welcomed everyone from the stage with a dais that included former Vikings game day analysts Pete Bercich and Ben Leber, as well as fantasy football guru Paul Charchian.
Besides the Bank’s big screens, they had large screens at floor level showing NFL Network’s draft coverage. It really was an immersive experience for the fans with Aaron Jones, Blake Cashman, Jared Allen, and Adrian Peterson making guest appearances and interviews. It is geared for adults, but it also has a family-friendly flair. Proof of that was I sat with some awesome fans; a dad who’s a Prior Lake football coach who had brought his son and a woman from Edina and her son.
If you’ve never been, I suggest you check it out. We all sat in anticipation and talked about the Vikings’ pick at 24, hoping it was a name we would be overjoyed with. As the names of players we thought would be there ended up on other teams, I was expecting a trade down.
What’s cool is that they were showing the Vikings’ War Room on the screens as the pick approached, and we could see General Manager Kwesi Adofoh-Mensah. He was locked on the phone, and his body language gave the impression that maybe they were facilitating a trade, as the room also seemed to have some interesting activity.
After a few minutes, they came back, and we could see Kevin O’Connell on the phone. Was he now on the phone with a player saying they had made the pick, or was he telling someone to hang tight as they worked some things out? As the pick was announced as locked in the room, we went into a Skol chant and listened to Commissioner Roger Goodell announce the Vikings taking Donovan Jackson. Honestly when they called Jackson’s name, I was a little underwhelmed and was anticipating the room to erupt in boos for who the pick wasn’t.
His name had come up as a possibility leading up to the draft, so I wasn’t surprised by the pick, and thankfully, no one else in the room seemed upset either. There was definitely surprise, but thankfully not anger.
Most fans knew it was a good pick because the left guard could use some shoring up, if not just good competition. As people started to look up and review what most experts were saying, they realized that he was the last top-end guard for the team to take.
Being a good pick was further amplified as the Texans immediately traded out of the 25th pick, and reports came in that Jackson is who they were targeting. If you thought they could trade down and still get him at a lower pick, you would have been wrong.
Their trade also got louder as the compensation was the Giants’ 2nd rounder at pick 34, this year’s 3rd rounder (99), and a 3rd round pick in the 2026 draft. Hardly a haul worth moving down from, as the Vikings definitely received a similar call and offer from New York and possibly others. Staying put was the right idea, and taking Jackson was the right player.
Night number two was really not much different than night number one. As Vikings fans, we had to wait again to see who the team would snag. Once again, the pick was not a name that most people expected in Tai Felton, a wide receiver from Maryland. Judging by social media moans and groans, fans seemed slightly less enthused with this pick.
With a deep defensive tackle and running back class, the team was in the perfect place to snatch one to strengthen those positions after trading to the bottom of the round. They could have even made another trade down, as several guessed upon targets were available, and they could have added more picks. But Felton seemed to be the Vikings’ target all along, and my guess is that they looked for someone at the top of the weakest position in this year’s draft. Or at least who was left there before the projections weakened, per their evaluations.
Day three of the draft is usually a smorgasbord of players and trades. The coin flip on players being on the team at the end of training camp at this point is a real thing. It’s as real as them becoming a backup on the team and contributing on gameday.
The theme of picking players that most didn’t expect continued with the Vikings’ next three picks, with Ohio defensive tackle Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins in the 5th round. Two back-to-back picks followed that in the 6th round, where they took Penn State linebacker Kobe King and Pitt tight end Gavin Bartholomew. Once again, fans were left a little bewildered. What happened to all those names that folks mocked to the team? What about the ones that were supposed to add depth to the team at the positions they bolstered in free agency?
After taking time to ruminate on the picks the Vikings ended up with, I can say that I’m not super excited about all the picks. I’m just being honest. Jackson was a great pick and helped shore up the offensive line, and Felton may provide much-needed depth and spark for special teams. I’m just not sure whether the other three will contribute immediately or ever.
King is a solid pick and a true middle linebacker with a chance to be a special team factor. Ingram-Dawkins has more of an uphill climb with the established players in front of him, and Bartholomew is simply depth at this time. They all have positive attributes and possibilities and aren’t bad picks. We all get caught up in who we’re told they should take, and when they don’t, we feel lied to. These professionals know much more about this process and how to be successful at it.
I’ll tell myself this and tell you to do the same if you are confused by how this all worked out: be patient. These picks may be solutions that will take time to develop into key rotational players, spot starters, or maybe even full-time starters that we will grow to love. It all depends on which side of the coin flips up.
The Vikings Have Done It Again
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