Knowing the Vikings Prospects: Safety
It’s finally Draft day, you pancake-eating m… The analysis, speculation, discussion, mock drafts, and everything we all did since the season ended led to this day. Today is when college athletes’ dreams become true, and every team drafted an All-Pro player.
It is also the day we finish discussing some Vikings prospects for their first picks (there is no sense talking about first-round players tomorrow, am I right?). We started with the trenches, then running backs, and finally the secondary, with cornerbacks going yesterday.
I do think other positions could be considered if the right player was available at 24 or after a trade down (like Jihad Campbell at LB or Tetairoa McMillan at WR), but I chose to focus on what I think are the priorities.
Knowing the Vikings Prospects: Safety
This isn’t the best safety class we’ve seen, but a couple of underrated players could compete to start on Day 1, plus some late-round options to develop behind Harrison Smith.
Malaki Starks, Georgia
Some fans will have PTSD from drafting a Georgia safety in the first round, but he is nothing like Lewis Cine as a prospect. Starks is a very polished safety, capable of playing multiple positions, which is great for a Brian Flores scheme. In Georgia, he was usually responsible for lining up the defenders in the correct position, and coaches put a lot on his plate in that regard – and he constantly delivered it.
Starks was making plays since the first snap he played for the Bulldogs, being elected a Freshman All-American in 2022, and a First Team All-American in 2023 and 2024. After his sophomore season, many analysts already considered him a first-round prospect.
Although his 2024 tape wasn’t as good, with a couple of big plays against him, he suffered from “prospect fatigue.” When everyone knows he is very good, he can’t do much more to improve his stock.
Some people started questioning his athletic ability after the Combine, but he’s a great athlete, with the speed to go sideline-to-sideline, moving ability to mirror routes (although he has to improve his man coverage), and length to disrupt passes at the catch point. He is also very smart at reading plays and has a great trigger to go help in the running game.
Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina
If you could build a safety in a lab, you would create Emmanwori. He’s 6’3, 220 lbs, and had a Relative Athletic Score of 10 at the Combine – and he’s just 21 years old. My biggest problem with him is that he doesn’t look as polished as I’d hope for a player with 36 starts in college. It’s not that he’s particularly raw, but he took bad angles multiple times against ball carriers and struggled reading concepts as well.
If the plan is to have him sit most of his rookie season behind Smith, Josh Metellus, and Theo Jackson so he can learn and improve his technique, I’m more for it. If they want someone to play right now, Emmanwori will make less sense than Starks or other safeties in this class. Emmanwori is an intriguing prospect and a respected locker room leader. It is very easy for him to fall in love with who he can be.
Kevin Winston Jr., Penn State
Similar to Emmanwori, Winston would be more of a project. He’s not as freakish as an athlete (then again, few players are) and is less experienced, but Winston would also offer a high upside in the future. He had a good sophomore season, with 2.5 sacks and 1 interception, earning interest for his junior year. Sadly, he suffered a partially torn ACL in a practice early in the season.
With only one season of starting experience, he’s very inconsistent reading plays, baiting hard on play-action, and not having the best feel for zone coverage, for example. Still, he’s a great tackler and is a disruptor when he is right on his read. He also has experience playing on special teams and could contribute there while learning the safety position’s intricacies.
Xavier Watts, Notre Dame
Apart from Starks, Watts may be the best fit for what we’ve seen from Brian Flores’ scheme. He thrived in zone coverage and two-high defenses, and although he can line up closer to the line as well, he is better suited for playing from behind.
He’s not a great athlete but has a servicable athletic profile and relies more on his ability to read his keys and position himself in a good place than just using raw athleticism to make plays. He started as a wide receiver for the Fighting Irish before becoming a linebacker and then cementing himself as a safety in 2023. If he’d made the switch sooner, he’d probably have entered the Draft last year.
His production is undeniable, with 13 picks and 31 passes defended in his two years starting, becoming a unanimous All-American in both (first Notre Dame with two since 1993), won the Bronko Nagurski Award for best defender in 2023, and was the Sugar Bowl MVP in 2024, apart from being a two-time team captain as well.
Andrew Mukuba, Texas
It’s an odd comparison, but Mukuba reminds me of Ivan Pace in one area. They are both smaller players, but they fly like a bullet. I always joke that Pace looks like a kid on steroids with too much sugar and running like a maniac. The difference is that Mukuba is not as strong, but the energy and vibes are very similar.
Mukuba was a Freshman All-American and the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2021 for Clemson, but after two down years, he transferred to Texas for his senior season, which helped his draft stock a lot.
His biggest problem in the NFL will be his size and lack of strength, which will show when tackling tight ends and bigger running backs. His best shot at making plays is diagnosing it early (something he’s very good at doing) and trying to disrupt the pass or make the tackle before the other player can get a head of steam. In the pros, one-on-one in the open space will be a struggle for him.
And that was some of the players. I think the Vikings could target between tonight and tomorrow. As I said earlier, there’s the possibility they select a player in a position that we’re not expecting. If that happens, don’t immediately label it as a bad pick.
If they pick Jihaad Campbell, for example, it could mean that Flores wants to dial back the 3-safety defense he used in 2023 and 2024 or that they want to improve the depth, especially considering that both Cashman and Pace missed significant time last season.
Other players would be good picks in the positions we talked about (I’m not kidding when I say that the running backs article could have had 12 players).
Even with only four picks, this is a team primed for seriously competing for a championship in the next 2-3 years, so let’s enjoy the best weekend the NFL can offer and hope that the players they select can push the team towards the ever-slippery Lombardi Trophy.
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