Friday Mailbag: Almost draft time

There are so many options for the Vikings in the NFL Draft

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By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone. Only a few more days until the draft. Let’s get into your questions…

KellyJ… What are your thoughts on shipping Greenard to the Pats for pick 63? Then acquire D Lawrence for pick 18. Would likely have to extend O’Neil to make a little more cap space in 26 or possibly lower first year $ for Lawrence’s contract to make it work

First, I like the creativity. We don’t see three-team trades but if the Vikings were going to use Greenard to acquire Lawrence, this is the way it would have to go since the Giants do not need edge rushing help. It would create the cap space and get the draft capital to get the job done. It opens up Dallas Turner to play Greenard’s spot, too.

It does make quite a bit of sense.

The only thing I might tweak is that I’m not sure it’s going to take No. 18 to get Lawrence. It seems he’s very unhappy and is putting on the full-court press. Could it be No. 49 and 63 to get him and keep 18, 82 and 97? Maybe pick Keldric Faulk with 18 to add to the beef up front?

Dermo Man….Thanks for all the content. Assuming the Vikings stick and pick, and with realistic availability, please outline who and why you would take for each of the Top 100 picks and compare with what you think the Vikings will actually do.

If it’s me, I’m taking either Jermod McCoy, Denzel Boston/Jordyn Tyson/Makai Lemon or Spencer Fano with the first-round pick because I just believe those are the guys who have the best long-term chances of being foundational players.

I might go for Kenyon Sadiq too. Having that freakish TE/slot is a pretty good cheat code for an offense with good wide receivers.

Outside of that there’s so many options and each depends on what happens in the first. I think there’s very few running backs that are worth it but I’m sold on Emmett Johnson and Jonah Coleman being quality football players who I would bet on.

There’s a bunch of third-round type receivers I like. The super productive ones are always going to be my favorite like Skyler Bell or Antonio Williams..

Ball hawking safeties are also my jam. AJ Haulcy and Bud Clark fit that bill.

As far as comparing it to the Vikings, I’m not really sure because it’s a whole new GM running the show but it feels pretty realistic.

Hannes B… Which DT has the highest pass rush potential?

Well, there’s potential and then there’s odds of reaching the potential. The guy with the best potential everything is Caleb Banks. He is an absolute monster with freakish movement for his size. The broad jump is a decent measure of explosiveness and he was in the 92nd percentile at 6-foot-6, 327 pounds. That’s bananas.

The problem is that he has been this big and explosive and he didn’t produce at an impressive rate, so the chance of him reaching that potential are not great based on the history of guys like him.

What I noticed in my DT study was that pass rush production is great but if the guy was bad against the run, it wasn’t a great indicator for success.

The player that stands out is Oklahoma’s Gracen Halton. He’s been a decent pass rush producer and very good against the run despite not being quite 300 pounds.

Missouri’s Chris McClellan is a huge dude that had a 9.6% pass-rush win rate, which is almost good.

Kaleb Proctor from Southeastern Louisiana is another guy that could be a Day 3 player with pass rush upside.

It’s strange because this draft really doesn’t have almost anybody that’s exceptional when it comes to rushing the passer.

Bradley P… Does Seattle winning last year prove that every 20 years something weird happens or that anyone can win at any time? I love Dexter Lawrence but I cringe thinking of the team going back into cap hell and throwing more draft capital when they need an infusion of young talent.

I don’t think it does. Seattle had the strongest roster in the NFL and a quarterback who was a top-three pick that won 14 games the previous season. They were an outlier in the way that Vegas didn’t have them as a pre-season favorite but in hindsight it’s pretty easy to match them up with lots of other Super Bowl-caliber teams. They were the second best team in the NFL during the regular season and they won it all. Most of the time, teams have to be close to the best of the best during the season to have a real shot.

As far as Dexter Lawrence goes, the Seattle-ish argument is basically that they and the 2024 Eagles and pretty much everyone who’s ever won a Super Bowl or reached one without Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes has an elite front seven. Russell Wilson’s Seahawks, for example, as well. If you add Dexter Lawrence to Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Jalen Redmond and Dallas Turner, you’ve got a chance to play in that sandbox.

Timothy G…. Are teams allowed to physically work out prospects during top 30 visits or just conduct meetings/interviews?

To tell you the truth, I’ve never asked. I assume the answer is yes because they worked out all the QBs on the field in 2024. The main thing is usually to bring in players is to answer medical questions and get to know them, see how the coach gels with them watching film, see how they interact with people around the building and how quick they can learn.

I know everyone thinks that they can figure out who the Vikings like by their visits and there might be some patterns that show up but teams also use those 30 visits for smokescreens all the time.

Chuck A… Talk me into/out of being terrified that there is no obvious plan at Center.

If I’m talking you out if it, it’s pretty simple: We saw Blake Brandel play there last year and it was alright. For a guy who never did it before, he was able to mostly provide league average caliber play. He knows the offense inside and out, which is very helpful for Kyler Murray and the other O-linemen said he was really good with communication. Plus it probably helps to have a dude who’s 6-foor-7 and has played guard and tackle before when you’re taking on the biggest DTs out there.

In terms of talking you out of it, well, Brandel has pretty much played like a quality backup for his entire career. I think he’s a tremendous interior backup player. But we saw over 17 games how his weaknesses got exposed in 2024 and that will probably happen again.

If he’s the weakest point of the line, it will likely be alright. If Fries/Jackson aren’t healthy or don’t perform well, it could be an issue.

Ben99… How will loosing Ham affect the Vikings offense? Drafting Sadiq seems a good idea suddenly: more 13, 21 personel opposing defense does not know which is which... play action with kyler murray...

Third down pass protection. Maybe it wasn’t really noticed (I wrote about it in 2023!) but Ham played a ton on third-and-long and he was fantastic. He ranked as one of the better pass protecting players in the backfield three years in a row in that role. Now they have nobody who can pass protect at that level. Jones tries his butt off but he’s nowhere near as big as Ham.

Josh Oliver might need to be in there on some third downs to help. I do like the idea of Sadiq on many levels. He could definitely be part of bigger personnel and I’ve watched him run block effectively so I think he’s going to be willing to do that even if he doesn’t fit the profile of a difference-making run blocker.

The league is using 12 and 13 personnel more to get advantages vs. nickel defenses and smaller LBs. Putting Jefferson, Hock, Sadiq and Oliver on the field together seems like a pretty great idea.

Tony T… Even with Dillon Thieneman, it doesn’t seem like there’s a sure-fire choice in Round 1. Considering Murray might be only average, would it make sense to trade this year’s pick 18 for a 1st next year and some day 2 picks this year? Stock up to trade up for a quarterback in 2027?

The sure-fire ideas don’t really add up with what the Vikings need. The defensive tackle position is suspect, running back is incredibly light outside of Love and Thieneman is the only safety to consider there. But the offensive tackle and wide receiver positions around 18 could be fantastic.

If there was a team ready to do what Atlanta did last year for James Pearce, then the Vikings absolutely have to do it.

All the reporting from this draft is that nobody is going to be willing to make 2027 moves because there aren’t any prospects that teams will want to trade up for and give up 2027 capital. You never know, I guess.

I like the line of thinking that they either have to do stuff in the draft to succeed in 2026 by trying to get proven prospects who can step in right away and help or be all about the future and make plays that could pay off later. But not something in between.

Brad L….Since it takes some time to truly evaluate draft success, what should we be looking for on (say) April 26 to judge short term success? If we draft ____ it will be considered successful.

The way I’ve always thought about it is the logic of the picks. I’ve been plenty wrong in my day-after analysis through the years (thanks for nothing, Wyatt Davis!) but when we analyze the board vs. their goals vs. the player they got, we can come to a pretty good conclusion.

Last year, for example, I felt like they had conceded an amazing future opportunity by not taking the Atlanta trade if it was on the board for them. But I also thought that Donovan Jackson was a really, really good prospect at a position that is underrated for its value and he could start right away on a win-now team.

In 2022, I questioned how far they moved down and the positions they took because it felt anti-analytical to pick a safety, guard and linebacker with three of the first four selections and my research said that top 12 picks were golden and anything lower than 20 is making a massive concession historically.

It’s definitely not aways right but I try to work through it that way.

Let’s say this year they pick Thieneman, Jadarian Price, Skyler Bell and Zakee Wheatley. We can all easily see where they filled needs and got quality, productive players. You’d grade that pretty well. If they went with big risks vs. the consensus board like Caleb Banks at 18 and Mike Washington Jr. at 49, I’ll be really wondering if they played it the best way.

That’s all you can really do since the draft is so freaking random.

Tony T…It feels like the Vikings have not had receivers that can reliably catch short yardage touchdowns since Thielen and Rudolph. What qualities predict red zone success for WRs and TEs in the draft?

Does O’Connell even think in these terms? It feels like O’Connell would be the greatest coach of all time if the sport had an endlessly long football field where you never needed to score, just rack up yards

Jordan Addison did have 19 touchdowns in his first two seasons, so that’s worked out pretty well for him but I agree on Thielen and Rudolph had a special ability to score TDs. Rudolph’s size was exceptional and Thielen had a freaky ball-tracking talent and A+ hands.

Could they use another red zone target? Probably. But let’s not forget that in 2024 Sam Darnold threw 26 red zone touchdowns, 20 of which were inside the 10-yard line.

Does O’Connell think about scoring touchdowns? Yeah man, I’m pretty sure he’s thought about that. They were 8th in red zone scoring in 2022 when they had a fella named Dalvin Cook. Maybe trusting Jordan Mason a little more down there would help.

If we’re framing it through a draft lens though, another red zone target wouldn’t hurt.

Thomas H…Do you think Brian O’Neill wants to explore other options rather than extend/renew his contract? For several years his contract has been cited as a possible restructure and extension in order to gain cap space but nothing has happened.

Everyone should want O’Neill to be a Viking for life including O’Neill. He’s a top 10 right tackle still, even playing through injuries last year, and he’s been a captain and O-line leader now for years. But business is business. The numbers for right tackles have been pushed up to the point where he should be looking for ballpark $25-$30 million per year and that might be tough for the Vikings to swallow knowing that they have Darrisaw making huge money and Jefferson on offense paid top dollar. If they have to extend Kyler Murray, I’m not sure how they afford a defense in the future.

O’Neill would be the logical guy to move on from because of his age, especially in a draft year that’s deep with tackles, you can pick one now and then develop them to take over.

From O’Neill’s perspective, he might want to see what the market has to say about him next year but I’ve always gotten the impression that he deeply loves playing for this franchise.

In terms of not restructuring, I think they might have held that card in their back pocket just in case they needed cap space. Also every restructure has to be paid for later, so any restructures you can avoid are good.

Rob…Would Dexter Lawrence be a fit within the current defensive scheme or would Flores have to change how the dline functions?

There’s no scheme where Dexter Lawrence doesn’t fit. It’s like Micah Parsons or Myles Garrett.

Flores would have to adjust for the sheer amount of double teams that would come his way. Opponents would be putting two guys on him basically every play, which would allow Jalen Redmond to get 1-on-1s and for the edge players to loop around to the middle or linebackers to blitz into gaps he opens up.

A DT like this has an unbelievable impact on a defense besides just his own personal numbers.

But any changes Flores makes would be because Lawrence is way better than anyone he’s had in that spot.

Bradley P…Matthew, choose your own adventure for pick 18: trade for Dexter Lawrence, stick and pick Dillon Thieneman, stick and pick your choice of any wide receiver in this draft or trade down to the top of the second round and pick up a 2027 first round pick.

The No. 18 pick is probably a lot for Dexter Lawrence considering the position the Giants are in and what he costs to sign to an extension.

Any time you give me my pick of the wide receiver litter, I’m just going to do that because I believe it’s the second most valuable position in the sport. However, in this case I would take the extra 2027 pick and take another receiver in the second round because I see a ton of receiving talent in this draft.

Stick and pick is fine but not as enticing compared to the other juicy options.

Matt D…I’m looking at the Felton and Ingram-Dawkins mid round picks from last year, who I think could both take a big step and contribute this season. I would probably describe those guys as a productive WR with elite speed and a defensive tweener. Who would your picks be at 82 and 97 if you were trying to draft players with those descriptions?

If I’m trying to find another productive receiver and a defensive tweener in this year’s class in the third round? In terms of elite speed, that would be Chris Brazzell II, Bryce Lance, Zachariah Branch, De’Zhaun Stribling and Brenen Thompson. All of them have the juice and good production.

The tweener… Penn State’s Zane Durant. Awesome athlete but he’s only 6-foot-1 and 290 pounds. Maybe he could be like a 5-tech?

Stephen L… With the exception of Xavier Rhodes, the Vikings appear to have been particularly inept at identifying talent at the cornerback position over the last two decades. Is this actually the case, compared with other teams, or is my perception skewed by my obsession with the Vikings and ignorance about the relative success of other teams in drafting starting cornerbacks?

I’d say this is a little on the aggressive side. Trae Waynes played outside corner on the No. 1 defense in the NFL in 2017 and Byron Murphy Jr. led all corners in INTs in 2024 and was a pretty cheap free agent pickup. Even Isaiah Rodgers was really good for them overall last year (PFF top 20 grade). Old Patrick Peterson was also really good for them too.

But they have used a fair amount of draft capital through the years on players that didn’t work out, most recently Andrew Booth Jr. and Mekhi Blackmon. That’s definitely made it look pretty bad.

If we go through the top corners in the league, you’re going to be shocked by this… it’s a lot of guys who were drafted high. Pat Surtain, Sauce Gardner, Devin Witherspoon, Trent McDuffie, Quinyon Mitchell, Derek Stingley…

If you’re always trying to put a band aid over the position with older veterans or third-round picks, it’s not particularly likely that you’re going to crush it.

I think their 2026 duo is overall pretty good but it’s possible that neither is going to be here in 2027, so my favorite angle for the Vikings in this draft is probably Jermod McCoy at 18 (assuming medicals are OK).

Joshua… Where would Tai Felton have fit into this draft class of WRs?

I’ll use an objective measure here… NFL.com’s official score…. Felton got a 5.96, which would have made him a Day 3 guy. That’s about the same as Brenan Thompson. It’s a shade below the Bryce Lances, Antonio Williams and Ted Hurst types that might go in the third round this year.

This receiver class is particularly outstanding in my view when it comes to the late second and third round.

We have to remember that he was the last pick of the third round and he was projected as a fourth rounder. So it’s going to take some time. And there’s no reason to avoid drafting more WR talent when they basically only have three guys on the roster right now.

Patrick G… when judging value vs. impact for short term (this season) and long term (next 4 years) what are your thoughts of Dexter Lawrence for 49 & 82 vs. Lee Hunter at 49 or Christen Miller at 49 and then another pick at 82 (RB? WR? C? CB?)? and who’s data do you trust? PFF lists Miller at 310 and Hunter at 330 that’s a noticeable difference; nfl.com combine info page lists Miller at 321 and Hunter at 318...that’s the difference of what they ate the night before....

The tough thing about comparing Lawrence vs. young guys is the money part. If there was no salary cap element, you’d say that Lawrence is easily worth way, way more than a third-round RB and a run-stuffing prospect. But the two prospects are going to cost less than $5 million on the cap and Lawrence wants $30 million ballpark.

I’d still take Lawrence at $30 million over this year’s DTs and RBs/CBs/Cs in a heartbeat. Not even close. But it does offer some team-building challenges for the future.

I believe NFL.com pages are NFL Combine weights and PFF’s are based on what they were listed in college and they haven’t updated them because nobody works there anymore.

Jason…Is Thieneman inevitable? Does drafting a safety that early fit with the claim from the front office that they are taking the best player they can? I am trying to get excited about this pick and struggling to do so.

Nah, he’s not inevitable because somebody else might take him. He makes a ton of sense at No. 12 for Dallas.

If they are just going by the best player and not heavily weighing positional value into that equation, then Thieneman has a great case to be the pick. He’s an awesome prospect. He just plays a position where there are 20 guys in the league who are good at it and they often become available in free agency for a fair dollar figure.

There is certainly a team building theory that if you just pick the absolute best prospect on the board that greatness at any position will move the needle. I mostly buy into that. If you have Fred Warner or Saquon Barkley, who cares if they are a LB or RB. If they pick Thieneman and he becomes great, then we’re never going to worry about positional value.

It’s definitely not the most exciting pick. It would be the ball-on-the-fairway pick. That was good for Donovan Jackson last year, even if that wasn’t a wow pick.

Joshua R…I have watched no tape. Do me a favor and put on your scout hat: Compare Emmett Johnson to another Emmitt who had a common last name, was quietly productive in college as a versatile back yet wasn’t a combine freak.

Emmitt Smith had one of the greatest O-lines ever assembled, a No. 1 overall QB who was a legend and a top-five WR stretching the field. The Vikings have the last part and they have the No. 1 overall pick. I’m not sure about the rest. He also had Daryl Johnston!

I like Emmett Johnson a ton. His first step quickness is great. He can catch the ball. His character reminds me of Aaron Jones. High intelligence, great attitude. I’d rather take a shot at that than throw a pick at a 4.3 guy because he ran a 4.3.

Florian K…Besides kicker/punter what position or player would the Vikings pick in the first round for you to think these guys are off their rocker?

Offensive guard or linebacker would be a pretty huge shock. I’m not sure there’s a linebacker (maybe Jacob Rodriguez?) who is worth taking in the first round unless they are trading back and they spent so much on Will Fries that they should at least play him in 2026 before deciding to move on for a younger player.

Pretty much everything else you can justify. Obviously the only RB that they’d be taking is Jeremiyah Love if he’s there in the first round.

That’s what makes this draft so interesting. In years past, we could bring it down to two or three positions. Now? No idea.

Matt D…Just for fun I asked Google AI to give me the positions to draft for each round, excluding QB, that would give you the best chance at the most players who are starters for at least 3 years. Assuming the AI is correct, which it probably is not, what do you think of this mock draft I did that follows that outline: Fano OL, Golday LB, Delp TE, Kaleb Proctor DL, Hezekiah Masses CB, Mason Reiger EDGE, Wetjen, Ty Montgomery, and Reggie Virgil WR. It’s not very exciting, and you obviously don’t need three WRs in round 7, but I don’t hate it.

Well, who knows. If they went Fano/Golday, they’d be picking two of my favorite guys for the Vikings in terms of fit and Proctor is an intriguing pass-rushing DT. The three receivers would be weird but they kinda did that with Rodney Adams and Stacy Coley that one year.

Fano is the ideal fit for them because he could bump inside with his skillset but he’s a great athlete and I see him as having the potential to become O’Neill-like. Everyone would hate the tackle pick but there’s no way they have a healthy offensive line for 17 games, so the guy would probably end up playing and then becoming a starter in 2027.

Evan… I like the idea of trading up for Styles, Love, or Downs, but shouldn’t we also be stockpiling draft picks to get a QB next year? I don’t think we can operate as if Murray is the long term solution. He could get injured, or he could play amazing and sign somewhere else next year. I guess that’s what’s so hard about picking 18 - we are exactly in the middle

Stockpiling picks for next year makes total sense because they might have to make a trade up for a quarterback.

That does conflict with the reality that they A) need young superstars badly B) are on their last legs with this particular roster.

I agree that you can’t assume Murray is the long-term guy and keeping options open is really important. Yet if you miss an opportunity to get Jeremiyah Love because you’re thinking about the next QB… well… this might be where I evoke the “NFL stands for Not For Long” cliche.

It’s a delicate dance between protecting the future and trying to win right now. How they handle it will be fascinating.

Jordan D…. I’m presenting the Vikings with the “All-In Button.” Should they press it? Dexter Lawrence for 2027 1st and 97. De’Von Achane for 2027 2nd.

If you were presenting this in a meeting, your argument goes like this: If we look at 2027, there are about a dozen different key players that might be gone. O’Neill, Fries, Mason, Jones, Hockenson, Greenard, Van Ginkel, Murphy Jr., Rodgers, Cashman…

You built this team to compete for a Super Bowl while the QB position was cheap and daggumit the QB position is cheap. This was your plan all along. Just go for it, man. You’re one Dexter Lawrence and Kyler Murray top-12 season away from playing in the divisional round. Caution to the wind, my friends.

Is that the right path? Theoretically probably not. In practice, YOLO.

Evan…If we could trade Greenard and 97 for #7, I’m all for it. But which other teams might be trying to trade up with Washington that we’d have to compete with?

Dallas needs defense really badly. They’d be one. I’m not sure that anybody else should be inspired for a trade up. Maybe a team like Carolina that’s looking for big-time players to take their next step or the Rams because they are lunatics who are going all-in this year. Aside from that, the Vikings would have a decent case with some of these teams like Washington or Kansas City to give them a win-now player for a top pick.

Eric M… Really appreciate the level of film study and analysis you do for the potential draft prospects. Your make a strong argument for drafting a corner in round 1 if a top one is there (McCoy) or trade down for CB 3-5 or a defensive tackle in the mid to late 20’s (and then Ponds, Terrell, Hood or Johnson as round 2 CB!) with an added round 3-4 pick. With the safety depth you have outlined, seems like that is a position that could wait.

With that being said. I assume the Vikings do a more extensive analysis of the players, so I don’t understand why safety is still being considered in round 1. Is it a smokescreen by the Vikings draft team, laziness by many draft analysts that parrot the same picks because they don’t actually study all the teams, or do they think the round 1 safeties are more likely to be a superstar than history would suggest is reasonable?

Technically my strategy is more watching really smart people’s film studies like Doug Farrar, Nate Tice, Ted Nguyen and a lot of others who are better at college football analysis than me and then pairing that with my ability to study the data and scouting reports.

Anyway, I wouldn’t call it laziness or a smokescreen because they might be right. Daniel Jeremiah was the first I remember saying Thieneman and he’s a tremendous draft analyst. It makes so much sense. They don’t have anyone at safety right now who is proven outside of Josh Metellus and he’s a fantastic prospect.

What I’m surprised by is that there is more of a range of opinions. Safeties do not tend to be drafted this high. Go look how rarely it happens. Even Nick Emmanwori was not a first-rounder. Neither was Xavier McKinney. So taking two in the top 20 would be a pretty big surprise.

First Round everything is more likely to be a superstar but nothing is a guarantee. Darnell Savage was 21st overall and he was just a guy.

I do think it’s hard for draft analysts to be as locked into every single team as the folks who spend 365 days per year on one team. But I can’t say that anyone who’s projecting a safety to the Vikings is being ridiculous by any means. It does make sense.

Walt K… Draft day is one LONG week away. A couple of weeks back we spoke about the Vikings possibly following the Falcons path and hiring Brez as a President of Football Ops, and then finding a GM who could work with KOC.

If that were to come to fruition, who are some candidates that you feel would fit in with the organization? Secondly, if the Wilfs do indeed want Brez as GM (imo he’s the odds on favorite), I would assume that they would want to see how he performs in this interim role. What are some things they would look at to help them assess his work product? They already know his worth behind the scenes, but are they really going to judge him on draft picks and FA signings who have yet to play a down for the team?

Well, I asked Mark Wilf at the owner’s meetings if he was interesting in a Football Ops person above the GM and he said no. He said implicitly that they’re keeping the same structure.

As far as candidate names, I’ve always been hesitant to start throwing people around when I have no idea who they are going to interview. Once I start to get some names to work with, we can talk about certain profiles and fits.

They are keeping it close to the vest exactly how they feel about Brzezinski’s candidacy. I couldn’t get a read on whether he’s the top guy going into the process or if he’s just holding the fort down.

In terms of judging him, it would be more about how he fit in that position than whether they liked the draft picks and free agent moves. They’d be getting feedback from the other leaders of the org and coaches about how they liked the process of working with him and coming to agreement on paths/decisions.

I think Rob is a great candidate for the gig but I really don’t have a clue where this is going. We’ve never seen anything like it before.

Masaki…I’m kinda intrigued by the idea of loading up on offense in this draft, especially as you have mentioned previously, along with other Vikings beat writers, that Brian Flores defense built to thrive when the team is leading…until last night you covered Dane Brugler’s mock complimenting the defense with younger talent, which I agree with. How would you compare the Vikings’ window or time horizon as opposed to the rest of the NFC North?

Everyone in the NFC North is going for it in their own way in 2026. The Vikings keeping guys like Hock and Jones told us that they aren’t looking way out into the future with everything they do. The other teams have their QBs locked in and they’re doing everything to win now. Which is why they also might chase Lawrence.

The Lions are on their last legs as a big-time contender. Green Bay seems set up to remain in the hunt for a while and Chicago has the most promising outlook because Williams could keep getting better and he’s cheap.

In terms of the all offense draft… if they landed Denzel Boston and Jadarian Price or something, it’s hard to convince me that it isn’t a bigger impact than Peter Woods and Chris Johnson or something like that. Defense definitely does win in the playoffs but also your QB is going to face a huge third down in the fourth quarter of a playoff run and he needs to be able to find somebody open no matter the coverage.

It’s hard for them to lose with almost any combination of picks but getting back inside the top 10 in offense is truly vital for being a serious contender. And they’d be setting up for losing their other RBs and in the future and potentially helping another QB or Kyler long term.

Speedi… Instead of trading down why aren’t we mocking moving up at various spots. If where a player is drafted correlates to their potential then giving up 5th 6th or 7th round picks for a move up o
maybe a better strategy then moving down? Is a player in the later rounds that much better for backup duty than the different free agents available at or near the veteran minimum? Some of those bring some nfl game experience with them?

Historically speaking trading down has done better than trading up. I’m not sure moving up in the third or fifth round makes any sense when you think about the caliber of prospects that we’re talking about.

The Vikings would be hoping that the 7th rounders are better than free agent backups because it’s great when you hit on even a depth guy in those rounds. But anyone who’s already played in the NFL is more of a sure thing than a draft pick.

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