NFL Combine buzz: Positions of Vikings need have a chance to shine in Indy

Reporting from the Combine on what folks are talking about in anticipation of an intriguing week

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By Matthew Coller

INDIANAPOLIS — Welcome to Indy for the first leg of the NFL offseason: The Combine.

Over the next few days, we will hear from the Vikings brass on all the key offseason subjects and get fully emersed in the rumor mill and then players will hit the field and we’ll start to see draft boards becoming more and more clear. Until that all happens, here’s the main topics that people around Indy were talking about at the Combine on Monday…

DTs and RBs could be movers and shakers

The consensus seems to be that the defensive tackle and running back positions are the most stacked in this year’s draft. That’s good news for the Vikings because they could be in the market for either or both. But while everyone agrees that the DTs and RBs are good, there is a lot of disagreement on the order in which they will come off the board in draft night. For example, NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Ohio State RB TreVeyon Henderson going to the Vikings with the 24th pick in his latest mock, yet PFF’s average draft position shows him as a third-round pick. CBS Sports’s Chris Trapasso didn’t have Henderson in his top 10 running backs in this draft and Mock Draft Database has him as RB3.

That’s just one example. The same effect exists in the defensive tackle world where Omar Norman-Lott from Tennessee is getting first-round buzz from some, yet he’s 118th on Bleacher Report’s scouting report and Dane Brugler’s 78th player in his top 100.

The expectation is that the events in Indy will go a long way to clarify the order of these two positions. Not that there will ever be a true consensus among all analysts but DT and RB are freak positions where players’ size, speed, quickness and agility is so central to their success that it becomes much easier to separate them when we have numbers that demonstrate those things on paper.

What isn’t quite as clear is whether the Vikings would actually consider a running back in the first round and which type of DT they might be interested in if they decided to pick one. Do they want a do-it-all type with power or a pure pass rusher?

Is Trey Smith an overrated free agent?

Some folks in Indy think that the Kansas City Chiefs guard, who is sure to be the top free agent on the market if he doesn’t work out a deal with KC, might end up getting wildly overpaid versus his actual talent. Smith is good, no doubt, ranking 9th by PFF in the regular season overall and 11th last season, but he was only 23rd in 2023 and and 19th in 2024 in pass blocking grade.

Is that worth paying $20+ million? It might be considering the shortage of quality guards in free agency. It might be an overreaction to the way the Eagles mauled their way to the Super Bowl.

The Vikings have to consider Smith as an option, especially because he’s a strong run blocker and a very high character player. They also have to ask if it makes more sense to pick up multiple players for the same price tag rather than going all-in on one guy.

Something that might even out the equation is the way the salary cap keeps jumping up. Everyone seemed surprised that the cap rose as much as it did this year but if that keeps happening then all the big contracts won’t look so gigantic this time next year. Take the Panthers’ handling of their line last year. Signing two guards for near $40 million total looked a little strange last offseason. Now those contracts seem totally reasonable. The same logic might apply to overpays this offseason.

The QBs are not inspiring (and possibly not helping their cause)

It was reported that Shedeur Sanders won’t throw at the NFL Combine. Tom Pelissero said on NFL Network that there is an expectation that Cam Ward won’t throw either. The conversation with those arriving in Indy was mostly about why either player would duck an opportunity to raise their stock. Neither Ward nor Sanders would have been anywhere near the ballpark of prospects like Caleb Williams, Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels last year, so they don’t have the same leverage to stand on. The second-tier prospects Michael Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix threw at the Combine and helped their stock — especially Penix Jr. He wowed the Combine. McCarthy also gave some confidence to his arm strength by throwing the ball the fastest in the MPH test and posting a ridiculous 3-Cone number that demonstrated his quickness.

The Vikings aren’t interested in a quarterback but the quarterbacks do impact the Vikings. If they are in Indy looking to shop a franchise tag and trade for Sam Darnold, then it matters whether the top prospect QBs are actually worth it. If high-picking teams like the Giants and Titans can’t stomach the idea of going all-in on flawed players like Ward or Sanders, they might be intrigued by acquiring Darnold via trade rather than trying to wait him out and argue for his services in free agency.

What are the Raiders thinking?

The wild card of the offseason is Las Vegas. It seems that Tom Brady is wielding a lot of power there now, which could cause them to make some bold decisions in attempts to get back in the mix right away rather than slowly building. Would that mean a potential trade for Darnold? No team has more cap space than the Raiders and it isn’t remotely close. That could make for a very classic Raiders type offseason of big moves and aiming for a quarterback with a big arm. Or it could mean a trade up for a QB or stick-and-pick with Sanders or any number of other crazy things.

Are some tackles actually guards?