Vikings are OK with not drafting for need

Acting GM Rob Brzezinski talked on Monday about the possibility of picking a player who won't play right away

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By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — It is not clear whether Rob Brzezinski is going to continue in the general manager role long term but we can safely say that he is going to lead the organization through the NFL Draft in a way that considers the future.

This year’s free agency portion of the offseason was proof of that. Brzezinski handled March as if 2026 wasn’t the final showdown. The Minnesota Vikings make a bunch of “all in” type moves or do anything from a salary cap perspective to sell out the future with contract restructures and kept some flexibility for after June 1.

So when Brzezinski said on Monday that there are conversations going on within the front office about selecting player that might not be major contributors in 2026 and instead have a more clear path to the field in 2027, it makes sense to take him at his word.

“It’s such a big thing in our league is having a path for the your draft picks to play, especially your early picks, you want them on the field, but there’s also a world where you have to identify what the role is year one but also what the bigger picture is down the line,” Brzezinski said. “It’s always a balance. And that’s what we’re talking about, what our needs are in 2026 and then what our needs are in 2027 — [they] are two very different things. So it’s a process of balancing those two things.”

If we consider the Vikings’ needs right away, it’s pretty easy to identify positions like safety and defensive tackle as spots where a first-round draft pick could be plug and play. It isn’t random that the mock draft universe is focused in on Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman. If you pull up the Vikings’ depth chart, you will see a No. 22 sized hole at the safety position and Thieneman is a very good prospect. Bang.

If we look forward to 2027, the Vikings’ range of needs becomes much wider. You can make a reasonable argument for tight end, offensive tackle, linebacker and cornerback because each one of those positions has a key player that is not under contract after 2026.

The debate might be made pretty easy if there were players at obvious positions of need for 2026 who were also going to be the best long-term players. But there is a reason that the Vikings’ front office and coaches are discussing this particular subject: It doesn’t appear that those two things align exactly.

For example, defensive tackle might be the Vikings’ biggest need but NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah doesn’t have any DTs ranked in the top 32 on his final big board.

Thieneman is his 16th best player but there is a question about whether he is going to be projected as a deep safety, which has generally been a replaceable position in free agency, or if he’s more of a dynamo game-changer type. He also might not be on the board when the Vikings pick because his buzz has been growing since the NFL Combine.

The strength of the draft appears to be in edge rushers, offensive tackles and wide receivers — all technically not positions of immediate need for the Vikings. Could they pick one of them simply because they are the best player in the draft and then figure out the usage later?

“What we do is, once we have the board stacked, hopefully objectively based on ability, then we identify who are the best fits for the Minnesota Vikings,” Brzezinski said. “But we want to make sure that we’re not passing a unique talent to fill a need for today. You know, a player that might not have the most impact in 2026, but could be a cornerstone for 2027.”

Brzezinski has been part of draft processes in the NFL for multiple decades and one thing that he’s learned, the acting GM said on Monday, is that teams can talk themselves into players because of how badly they need a certain position.

“You can’t manufacture what’s not there but when you have needs and you’re trying to fill needs, you’re looking always glass half full,” Brzezinski said. “You’re going to see what you want to see in certain players where you have needs. And the process is just about being as objective as possible and just having honest conversations.”

Where those conversations end up taking the Vikings will be revealed on Thursday but Brzezinski’s comments do seem to leave the door open for a lot more options than the one position that has been mocked to them repeatedly.

There is one particular position that seems to check boxes now and later. That’s cornerback. There are only a handful of corners mocked in the first round but Tennessee’s Jermod McCoy or Colton Hood both make sense as does Clemson standout Avieon Terrell.

Other spots like wide receiver, tight end and edge rusher could open the door to rotations right away and full-time spots down the road.

The bottom line is that the Vikings have a lot of different ways they can go in this year’s draft. Who they select may tell us a lot about how they are viewing the long-term outlook for certain positions. Or they might just pick Thieneman anyway because he’s a good football player.

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