B
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings won the night they stopped Sainristil from sliding. Grade: B.
by kgrundseth ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 15 picks
· 3 steals
· 5 reaches
The real work happened on the phones. The Vikings fleeced their trade partners, turning their picks into a noticeably bigger pile than they started with. Nothing here to lose sleep over; call it a B.
The Sainristil pick alone nudges the whole weekend up a notch. If Benson pans out, nobody remembers the price. If not, this is the pick they hear about. Job largely done: quarterback settled and 8 of 8 of the wish list covered.
Quantity was the play, for better or worse.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 25 they get a disruptor off the edge, reach and all. The biggest hole, addressed.
Byron Murphy II in Round 2, Pick 10 is fair value, right on his grade. One more legitimate question on the roster, answered.
A premium they did not need to pay, Trey Benson a notch or two before his time. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Ja'Tavion Sanders in the 58th pick is fine work, a shade of surplus and no downside. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
Michael Pratt in No. 89 is the kind of reach that only looks good if he outplays it. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A slide stopped in slot 96, with Roman Wilson worth more than the price. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Circle this one: Mike Sainristil at the Round 4 slot is a fall that decides a draft. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
Darius Robinson in Round 4, Pick 25 lands just on the right side of the ledger. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
They read the board right and Malik Washington was the payoff at pick No. 130. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.
A market-rate safety, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Malik Mustapha. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
The board had cheaper options than Justin Rogers at No. 148, and it noticed. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
No edge and no loss on Layden Robinson in slot 160; it is a wash and a sensible one. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Curtis Jacobs at pick 166 is a clear overpay, with better names still on the board. It thickens a room that could stand to be thicker.
Javon Baker in the 179th overall pick is exactly on the number, no argument either way. A need, and now a little less of one.
By-the-book stuff, Dylan McMahon at the 230th pick squarely in line with his ranking. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.