Takeaways from Day 3 of the Vikings draft

Looking at the Vikings picks and where they fit within the roster

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By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings put a bow on a very small draft class on Saturday afternoon. Let’s take a look at what they got and where the players fit….

Sam Howell is a fine backup QB option

The Vikings swapped picks with the Seahawks, sending No. 142 overall to Seattle to drop back to pick No. 172 in exchange for quarterback Sam Howell. He presumably answers the question of the open backup QB position — though we can likely expect competition from Brett Rypien, who has received a number of shoutouts from Kevin O’Connell and has started NFL games before.

Howell has started 18 games in his career, winning five with 22 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and a 77.5 QB rating. He has also been sacked 72 total times (he led the NFL in times sacked in 2023). The former North Carolina quarterback has also run for 300 yards and six TDs.

While his stat sheet isn’t inspiring, Howell still hasn’t turned 25 years old yet and certainly didn’t have anywhere near the supporting cast or coaching that the Vikings can provide. In comparison to other potential options that the Vikings had this offseason for the QB2 spot, Howell stacks up fairly closely when it comes to recent performance. Daniel Jones only won three of his last 16 starts and Carson Wentz is 3-6 with an 81.7 QB rating since 2021.

It’s at least plausible that Howell could have some upside. He was projected by draft analysts in 2022 to be a second-round pick but ended up sliding to the fifth round. NFL.com’s prospect profile paints him as a fit for the Vikings’ downfield passing attack: “Howell isn't wired for or suited to a ball-control passing attack and might need a vertical passing scheme capable of creating explosive plays in order to succeed,” Lance Zierlein wrote.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said that the Vikings did not do a full assessment of Howell when he came out because they were not considering drafting a quarterback in that draft.

“We didn't think in that first year together…that it was the right time in our journey to make such an investment,” Adofo-Mensah said. “We say a lot that organizations fail quarterbacks long before quarterbacks fail organizations. And we didn't want those to be one of the reasons why somebody didn't because we weren't ready, we weren't in the right place to do that type of thing. We didn't think it was the right time. But on talent and all the other things we talk about, he was high up on our board, but just didn't think it was the right time and place.”

Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins is a project and he’s OK with that

With the 139th overall pick, the Vikings took a Georgia defensive lineman who profiles as a potential fit for defensive coordinator Brian Flores and as a prospect who could have high upside.

In terms of height, weight and usage, Ingram-Dawkins screams “tweener.” He is 6-foot-5 but weighs 276 pounds, which doesn’t quite fit as a defensive end or defensive tackle. The Bulldogs seemed to feel that way too because they played him all over the defensive line, nearly evenly using him outside the offensive tackle, over the tackle and inside at a three-technique DT spot.

His numbers showed some promise but do not jump off the page. He only played more than 225 snaps for the first time in his career in 2024 and ended with just 19 pressures and a decent 70.8 PFF grade against the run. But the Vikings aren’t so much focused on the numbers with Ingram-Dawkins because his athletic profile and character makeup were very high. He crushed the NFL Combine, scoring in the 98th percentile by Relative Athletic Score. His performance in Indy included remarkable explosiveness numbers in a 36-inch vertical and 96th percentile 40 time.

The Vikings also liked the fact that Ingram-Dawkins understood that he was playing behind stars at Georgia and chose to wait his turn rather than going elsewhere to get more NIL money and playing time.

“When you get to meet the person that's when you close the loop and see that he's incredibly intelligent and he's very self-aware,” Adofo-Mensah said. “He knows the things he needs to work on. He's pointed to the things that he can get better at. So when it comes to that, when you see the combine, when he shows up at the combine and those things match the potential trait you see in him, there's a certain way you can kind of calculate the odds of that happening versus somebody who might have been more productive but maybe less capacity in their body.”

Penn State linebacker Kobe King is a thumper

Here is an interesting wrinkle to the Vikings’ draft: Sixth-rounder Kobe King’s twin brother Kalen plays for the Green Bay Packers. Kalen, a corner, was a seventh-round pick last year.

King’s numbers reflect those of a traditional linebacker. He graded as one of the elite linebackers in college football against the run with an 89.3 PFF grade.

“A lot of times in football….you need somebody to tackle the person trying to advance the ball up the field against your team, whether that be special teams with the ball in his hands or defending the pass and he's somebody that plays with range, tackles,” Adofo-Mensah said. “He's a really physical, knock-back, impact tackler.”

King drops into a position that has a lot of aggressive players, beginning with starters Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace Jr. This offseason the Vikings added veteran Eric Wilson to provide depth and special teams work. Brian Asamoah has been purely a special teams ace. So King will have to fight for his spot and thrive in training camp in order to earn a roster spot but he has the potential to start as depth and then grow into something more.

Gavin Bartholomew fills an immediate depth need

The Vikings have one of the better tight end duos in the NFL with TJ Hockenson and Josh Oliver but they lost two players that filled out the roster in veteran Johnny Mundt and former draft pick Nick Muse. So they grabbed an experienced tight end from Pitt in Bartholomew to take the role. He played 2,333 snaps in his college career and caught 105 passes for 1,257 yards and 11 touchdowns.

“We think he can be a hybrid YF tight end for us,” Adofo-Mensah said. “He's got some route-running ability. We think he's got a lot the ability in his body. His pro day showed a lot of that. We think our coaches, Coach [Brian] Angelicho and Coach [Ryan] Cordell are some of the best in the league to get that out of him. And we think he's got a lot of lower-body strength to kind of help him in the run game and be somebody to help us in the run game and special teams. A good athlete. A good football player. Competitive.”

Theo Jackson and the corners should be happy

Many prognosticators expected the Vikings to pick a cornerback or safety within the first two days and yet they came away from the entire draft without any additions to the secondary.

Adofo-Mensah explained the thinking about both positions staying put. On the safeties, he said:

“You talk about our safety room, really excited to bring back Josh Metellus, obviously, and Harrison Smith, those are known commodities,” Adofo-Mensah said. “Theo Jackson is somebody we've been excited about for a long time, since we brought him over here from Tennessee, somebody that in the limited time he's played, has shown what we think of him. Jay Ward is somebody, again, with an incredibly versatile skill set that we still see. When he plays safety it looks natural to him. Football makes a lot of sense to him out there. He's got some really good range. And we're excited to see what that competition looks like.”

On the corners, Adofo-Mensah said:

“In the cornerback room we love Murph [Byron Murphy Jr.], obviously, excited to bring him back. And Isaiah [Rodgers] and [Jeff] Okudah and Mekhi Blackmon. A lot of times in this league, when you come back from injury, you get forgotten. But we haven't forgotten him and we're excited to how he resumes. And Dwight McGlothern, who is somebody who showed in limited time in the preseason and in special teams play, that he could be something for us.”

The Vikings still could add last-minute free agents like they did with Fabian Moreau and Stephon Gilmore last year.

Who else could they have picked?