D+
Minnesota Vikings
The phones sank the Vikings this weekend: D+.
by Bobbo ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 17 picks
· 4 steals
· 3 reaches
The Vikings looked at the value chart, folded it up, and took Nathaniel Watson at pick No. 166 regardless, 41 picks early. Put together, it is a D+.
The dealing is the wound this class cannot quite close. With safety and tight end unsolved, spending premium capital on cornerback is the choice that costs them. They punted on safety, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest.
The Rouse value carries more weight than any single miss elsewhere.
Bottom line, they will need several of these picks to beat their grades just to break even, and safety is still a hole.
Pick-by-Pick
In the Round 1 slot they get a disruptor off the edge. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
In the 31st overall pick they get an island corner at fair value. Need was not the driver here.
Bo Nix at Round 2, Pick 3 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A market-rate interior defensive lineman, with the board and the slot shaking hands on T'Vondre Sweat. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
Chris Braswell at pick 42 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 Christian Haynes in slot 57; it is a wash and a sensible one. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
A curious use of No. 89. Safety and tight end needed the pick; a cornerback in DJ James did not.
They did well to land Audric Estime in Round 4, Pick 9, just ahead of his grade. A need, and now a little less of one.
Value with a capital V on Javon Foster in pick No. 130, a genuine coup. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
They took Mason McCormick at par in the 156th overall pick, which is nothing to complain about. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.
Nathaniel Watson at the 166th pick is an overdraft of the loud, memorable kind. It adds depth where they could use a little.
A reasonable price with a little left over, Trevor Keegan in slot 168. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Isaiah Davis at pick 179 is the sort of value that quietly wins a weekend. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A swing that ignored the value entirely, Javontae Jean-Baptiste well ahead of where he belonged. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A offensive lineman of that caliber at the 204th pick is the definition of value, full stop. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Good things come to war rooms that wait, and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint at pick No. 214 is the proof. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They left a pile of value on the table to take Tatum Bethune this early at the Round 7 slot. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.