B-
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings robbed the room for Fields. Final grade: B-.
by TBarin13 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 4 steals
· 0 reaches
The value of the weekend has a name and a slot: Malachi Fields, pick No. 97, roughly 24 picks past where he belonged.
They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest. They went 5 of 8 on their needs, which is most of what a draft is for. Nearly every premium pick went to that side of the ball.
Good work on the whole, with quarterback the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a coverage-and-run second-level piece, and a steal at that.
By-the-book stuff, D'Angelo Ponds at pick 49 squarely in line with his ranking. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Jadarian Price slid further than he should have, and Round 3, Pick 18 is lovely value for the running back. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Somehow Malachi Fields was still sitting there in pick No. 97, and they pounced on premier wide receiver value. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Steal is underselling it; Dametrious Crownover at No. 163 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A market-rate tight end, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Dallen Bentley. A need, and now a little less of one.
Xavier Nwankpa at the 234th overall pick is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
No edge and no loss on Owen Heinecke in slot 235; it is a wash and a sensible one. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
Brent Austin at No. 244 is a sound buy, the sort that quietly helps a class. Stacking talent where they were already deep.