B+
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings robbed the room for Slaughter. Final grade: B+.
by MNFtball2025 ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 7 steals
· 0 reaches
Call it larceny. Jake Slaughter sat on the board until the Round 3 slot, and the Vikings did not need to be asked twice. It nets out to a B+, which feels about right.
They punted on quarterback, and it is the miss that keeps the grade honest. The trade work was a quiet net positive. Safety was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job.
The hoard sets up next April more than it helps this September.
Nothing here to lose sleep over, and plenty to feel decent about.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 18 they get a three-down runner at a price that makes it sweeter. A clean fit for the roster.
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at the 49th overall pick is money in the bank, a safety taken below his worth. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Steal is underselling it; Jake Slaughter at No. 82 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Charles Demmings in the Round 5 slot. A minor itch, scratched.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr slipping to pick 196 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
A slide stopped in the 234th pick, with Riley Nowakowski worth more than the price. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
TJ Hall in Round 7, Pick 19 is fair value, right on his grade. Insurance at a position that did not really ask for it.
A quiet steal in slot 244: Zavion Thomas for less than the market said. The roster fit checks out.