The Top Draft Needs for the Vikings in 2026
When a football team possesses a 4-6 record inside a season when it was supposed to contend for a Super Bowl, before Thanksgiving is a fair time to peek at the following season’s draft needs. Sad but true.
Draft needs for the Vikings in 2026 are already taking shape, giving an early glimpse at where the roster could shift heading into next spring.
The Minnesota Vikings can still make something of the current campaign, but they must win six of their next seven games to reach the playoff tournament. Generally speaking, that’s unlikely, so here’s a glance at the 2026 draft needs from a November 2025 perspective.
The list is ranked ascendingly — No. 1 is the top draft need.
Early and Obvious Draft Needs for the Vikings
Yes, it’s time to start thinking about the offseason.
5. Tight End
The Vikings don’t really utilize T.J. Hockenson to the fullest. Plain and simple. Few will debate it.
They also pay Hockenson at the fourth-highest rate in the NFL. The return does not match the price. If Minnesota decides that its offense will remain TE-lite, it’s time to send Hockenson elsewhere and draft a tight end for affordability’s sake.
If the team used Hockenson at a WR2 or WR3 target clip, he would be worth his contract. In his current state, the arrangement is not worth it. So, there’s a chance that Minnesota realizes this, moves on from Hockenson, and scours the draft for a mid-round tight end.
4. Inside Linebacker
Minnesota’s two starting off-ball linebackers in 2025 are Blake Cashman and Eric Wilson. The pair is performing quite well, but it is not young.
Too, Ivan Pace Jr. — who is young — has been benched in favor of Wilson, probably signaling an end to his tenure in the Twin Cities. Pace Jr. will be a restricted free agent during the offseason. Would Minnesota magically start Pace Jr. in 2026 after benching him in 2025?
Thankfully, for the draftboard’s sake, finding an inside linebacker in the draft is not difficult. Like tight ends, they can be plucked from the middle rounds.
3. Running Back
VikingsTerritory endorsed the draft pick of North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton last April. The organization disagreed and selected guard Donovan Jackson instead — a lineman who has performed well to start his career.
Well, the Vikings still need a running back. The current RB1, Aaron Jones, will turn 31 in a couple of weeks. He’s not going to get better in 2026.
The 2025 draft class was stuffed to the gills with promising tailbacks. The 2026 draft is not. Still, before too long, Minnesota needs young legs at running back.
The Viking Age‘s Brad Berreman wrote about the running back spot last month, “At a glance, Minnesota seems fairly well set at running back in 2026 with Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones both under contract.”
“But neither of them is under contract beyond next season right now, and while it would involve a notable dead money hit, the Vikings could part with Jones before $2 million of his 2026 salary becomes guaranteed on the third day of the league year. With the volatility and short shelf life of the position, keeping the running back pipeline filled is always on the radar for teams.”
2. Safety
Harrison Smith will likely retire in 2-3 months, Camryn Bynum doesn’t work here anymore, and Josh Metellus has regressed to a mediocre performer.
That’s a lot going on for a Vikings defense that loves to deploy safeties all over the place while only holstering three active cornerbacks on the roster.
But like tight end, inside linebacker, and running back, productive safeties can often be found after Round 1. Minnesota will need one. An early look at 2026 will show Metellus, Theo Jackson, and Jay Ward as the safety options. The Vikings need heavier hitters than those men.
1. Cornerback
Now, for the obvious Round 1 request — a cornerback.
Minnesota has not successfully drafted a cornerback of any kind — from any round — in a full decade. The last guy was Trae Waynes in 2015, and he was decent, not fantastic.
It sounds like a broken record, but general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah must invest yet another high-round pick in a cornerback, as players like Mike Hughes, Jeff Gladney, and Andrew Booth did not pan out.
Probably by a mile, cornerback is the Vikings’ top draft need in 2026 — unless it totally mailed it on J.J. McCarthy. Then, Adofo-Mensah would need another cornerback, too.
DT as Honorable Mention?
Over at TVA, Adam Carlson recently mentioned defensive tackle as a draft need.
He noted, “Although the Vikings have some older players, such as Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, on the defensive line, they also have some younger talent on the rise that would make this pick seem like a much lower priority than cornerback. Levi Drake Rodriguez, Jalen Redmond, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, and Elijah Williams are all players on the 53-man roster who could have a bright future on the defensive line in Minnesota.”
“Their potential could be another reason the Vikings might go in a different direction. It will be interesting to see if the defensive line is the first position addressed by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2026 NFL Draft. Most people will agree that the offense doesn’t need an accumulation of talent, but the position the team chooses to select first in the draft will say a lot about the trust they have in players at other positions.”
The draft is five months away.
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