Fairy Tale “Do Over” Pretty Wild for Vikings Draft
For some reason, various NFL media outlets enjoy publishing “alternate histories” of recent drafts.
Fairy Tale “Do Over” Pretty Wild for Vikings Draft
They don’t make much sense in general — because who cares what might have happened in hindsight? Some attack such publications from an angle, “Here’s what this team should have done.” Again — who cares? The damage is done.
NFL.com was not immune this week, posting a “redraft” from the 2024 NFL Draft. And in that fairy-tale experiment, the Minnesota Vikings ended up with tight end Brock Bowers with the 10th overall pick.
Ali Bhanpuri and Tom Blair explained the Bowers-to-Minnesota revisionist selection: “The Vikings’ fairy-tale 14-win season ended in demoralizing fashion, derailed by back-to-back duds from Sam Darnold. Imagine if the polarizing QB had safety valve Brock Bowers on hand, though, throughout the campaign — and especially at the end, when Darnold seemingly had no solution for the relentless pressure bearing down on him.”
The Vikings, in reality, drafted quarterback J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick, but McCarthy later missed all of his rookie season due to a torn meniscus.
“Maybe Minnesota ends up beating L.A. in Week 8 and/or splits the season series with Detroit, earning the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye instead of going on the road on Wild Card Weekend. Even if Bowers couldn’t ultimately change the team’s fate, he’d still be the clear successor to T.J. Hockenson and would give Minnesota the NFL’s ultimate pick-your-poison pass-catching group,” Bhanpuri and Blair added about Bowers in purple.
Then, with the Vikings’ other 1st-Rounder, the team apparently picked defensive back Tykee Smith instead of Dallas Turner.
For context, McCarthy went to the Raiders — yes, Minnesota and Las Vegas basically swapped 1st-Rounders in the exercise — and Turner was not chosen in Round 1.
The working theory evidently suggests that McCarthy would not be a part of Minnesota’s long-term QB1 plan and that it would roll with Sam Darnold in 2025 and beyond while enjoying Bowers on the roster for the long haul.
It is unclear how the Vikings would theoretically manage Hockenson and Bowers from here on out. Again, though, the publication was more like fan fiction than anything else.
Not for nothing, Bowers scripted the best rookie season by a tight end in NFL history, so any franchise would be excited to employ him for the next decade or so.
It would just be a little depressing if Minnesota had Darnold, not McCarthy, as its only viable quarterback solution next season.
Probably why redrafts are fan fiction.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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