The Logic behind the Vikings’ 2025 Draft
With the Draft officially behind us, everyone’s focus now shifts to offseason camps and the regular season. But, as fans, we have the luxury of focusing on the Draft a little more.
For fans and media, the Draft will remain a topic for a couple of weeks, discussing who improved their team the most, who reached for players, or, as I bet 95% of the media will talk about, why Shedeur Sanders was drafted only in the fifth round.
The Logic behind the Vikings’ 2025 Draft
As I said a couple of times when discussing some prospects to keep an eye on for the Vikings, I’m not a GM, scout, or a coach, so there’s no reason to think I know what they know. In fact, none of us do (I mean, Jeff Diamond does, but he was a GM, so the point still stands). I ask you to keep that in mind when you’re pissed because Kwesi Adofo-Mensah didn’t draft the cornerback you wanted in the sixth round.
Instead, I’m trying to look for what I think was the reason for selecting who they selected and passing on who they passed. I believe this is a better way to “judge” a pick than just looking at where they were ranked on someone’s big board and comparing to who was available.
24th pick: Donovan Jackson, OG, Ohio State
Let’s start from the obvious: Donovan Jackson is a guard. After playing as an emergency left tackle for the Buckeyes last season, a few analysts thought Jackson could be either a tackle or a guard in the NFL. This means that they graded him with that in mind, but most of the ways he got beaten as a tackle won’t translate to the NFL because, at least for the Vikings, he will be a guard.
I was among the group who wanted Malaki Starks to be the pick at 24, but as most insiders foretold, the plan was always to solidify the trenches on either side of the ball. Tyler Booker (12th) and Kenneth Grant (13th) were selected earlier than most expected, throwing a curveball on the Vikings’ assumed plans.
Between picks 12 and 23, five expected targets were selected, leaving Jackson as the lone player who could have an impact from Day 1 on the board. We will never know if Jackson was their last option or if they had him higher than the other players, but he was indeed one of the better guard prospects.
Could Kwesi Adofo-Mensah traded down from 24? Maybe. That’s another thing we can’t be sure of. The Giants probably tried to trade up, as they presumably tried with the Chargers and Packers, before finally trading with the Texans for the 25th pick.
If they’ve traded with the Giants (or the Falcons, who traded with the Rams for the 26th pick), I believe there was a very slim chance that Jackson would’ve been on the board at the top of the second round. The Texans, Rams, Lions, Commanders, Ravens, and Chiefs were also linked to offensive linemen ahead of the Draft, so thinking a player who played well at guard, a market that’s steadily getting more expensive, and left tackle would slip past all of them is being too hopeful.
Ultimately, though, they thought getting that final piece on the offensive line was better than getting an extra third-round pick on Friday and another next year.
102nd pick: Tai Felton, WR, Maryland
Felton was probably the most surprising pick of this class. Although with only five selections, this isn’t saying that much. Wide receiver is another position that a few insiders highlighted as a possibility, so maybe we should listen more to what guys like Alec Lewis are saying.
He brings something the Vikings didn’t have: a player who can catch a screen or a short route and transform it into a big play (26 forced missed tackles in 2024) and also stretch the defense vertically. Felton will likely start as WR4 or WR5 and see targets as a gadget player, adding a dynamism that this offense lacked.
Apart from what he can do on offense, Felton will also help a lot on special teams, which is another thing the Vikings were supposedly interested in improving. With experience in kickoff and punt coverages, he can enhance the gunner situation on Matt Daniels’ unit, a position that wasn’t good last year after NaJee Thompson’s injury.
With Jalen Nailor entering the last season of his rookie deal, and Jordan Addison facing a probable three-game suspension for his DUI last year, adding a player who can be a WR3 if Addison has to miss some time, and be your WR3 if Nailor leaves after the season, all while being effective on special teams could turn out to be a solid pick, even if it’s a bit of a head-scratch right now.
139th pick: Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, DL, Georgia
As of right now, Ingram-Dawkins is a very unfinished product. That’s one of the main reasons he was available in the fifth round. In a stacked Georgia defensive line unit, as it always is, he usually was the odd man out, even coming in as a four-star recruit in 2021. He had his best season in 2024 as a redshirt junior, racking up 3 sacks and 8 tackles for loss in 10 starts for the Bulldogs.
Joining an improved defensive line, it’s hard to imagine Ingram-Dawkins making much of a splash as a rookie. He should be a lock to make the final roster, but with Jonathan Allen, Harrison Phillips, and Javon Hargrave, there aren’t many snaps for the younglings to prove themselves. He will join a group of young defensive tackles that includes Jalen Redmond, who showed flashes last season, Levi Drake Rodriguez, a seventh-round pick in 2024, and Taki Taimani, who was getting more snaps before suffering an injury.
He does have more pass-rushing juice than the three other young guys and lined up all over the defensive line for Georgia, including out wide. This is how he can see snaps in his first year, showing an ability to be multiple and be effective on stunts. With the starting trio set, Ingram-Dawkins adds to a young group of backups who will fight for snaps in 2025.
201st pick: Kobe King, LB, Penn State
If you’re expecting a sixth-round player to impact offense/defense as a rookie, you’re bound for a disappointment. It’s amazing when they do, but 99.9% of the players drafted late on Day 3 have some flaw. They either have an obvious weakness that can, and will, be exploited by opposing teams, or played on smaller schools without standing out too much.
What you’re looking for is someone who can have a specific role on your team, like a defensive tackle who is only effective against the pass, or a player with potential to have a bigger role but is raw. Either way, they have to play special teams to make the roster.
King is oddly both. He was a stone wall for the Penn State defense, bringing violence and physicality that is easy to fall in love with. He could see playing time in 2025 when opposing offenses are in obvious running situations or closer to the goal line, when there isn’t much space for him to cover. Speaking in coverage, that is his issue that offenses will exploit, as he doesn’t have the skills to cover man-to-man and lacks the feel to make plays when in zone coverage.
He should excel on special teams, particularly on the kickoff unit, using his ability to read blocks and disrupt the play quickly. With the NFL pushing for more returns, having those kinds of thumpers can be the difference between the other team starting at their own 25 or their own 35.
202nd pick: Gavin Bartholomew, TE, Pittsburgh
Bartholomew comes to fill a role many of us ignore: tight end 3 — with Kevin O’Connell losing the love of his life, as Johnny Mundt signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. That left the Vikings with just T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver on the roster, and, albeit a very nice duo, they needed depth at the position.
I wasn’t familiar with Bartholomew before the Draft, but from what I’ve read since Saturday, he is a player who improved every season and, maybe if he had had better quarterbacks, could’ve put up better numbers.
For someone who projects to be the TE3 on an offense that has a lot of wide receivers, one incredible tight end, two good running backs, and a fullback, he doesn’t have to be impactful from Day 1. Although not particularly great at any given thing, he is a well-rounded player. He can find space underneath against zone coverages and will fight at the catch point. He also shows the willingness as a blocker and has improved in that area, going from a liability to functional.
Bartholomew probably won’t turn any heads in 2025, but he has the mental makeup to go to work and, if he improves like he did at Pittsburgh, could replace Josh Oliver as the TE2 if he leaves next year.
Something I can’t forget to say. The Vikings got QB Sam Howell during a trade down with the Seattle Seahawks, giving up pick 142 for 172 and the young signal-caller. This puts an end to all of the discussion surrounding any free agent QBs, and we won’t have to hear about Aaron Rodgers signing with the Vikings anymore.
The Vikings’ Big Trade Is Official
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