D+
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings robbed the room for McCaffrey. Final grade: D+.
by JGILL ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 16 picks
· 8 steals
· 3 reaches
Somebody took the Vikings to the cleaners. The deals they made bled real value, and the whole class wears it.
Spending an early pick on cornerback with edge rusher open is the decision the grade keeps circling back to. The cost of the Lee reach is exactly the players who went right after him. For all the activity, edge rusher went untouched, which is hard to explain.
The McCaffrey value carries more weight than any single miss elsewhere.
In the end, a class the front office will want to grow past quickly.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 11 they get a weapon on the perimeter at fair value. A clean fit for the roster.
In the Round 1 slot they get a lockdown presence outside. Need was not the driver here.
Hard to square with the roster. With positions of obvious need still on the board, Quinyon Mitchell adds a cornerback and leaves edge rusher untouched.
Taking Brian Thomas Jr. in the 52nd pick is close to grand larceny; a wide receiver that good had no business lasting this long. The roster fit checks out.
A tidy bit of business in the 84th overall pick, where Junior Colson graded well above the range. Not urgent, but hardly pointless.
They barely believed it either: Javon Bullard still on the board at No. 87. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A quiet steal in slot 109: Mason McCormick for less than the market said. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board fumbled Audric Estime all the way to the Round 4 slot, and they scooped it up. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Sataoa Laumea in the 121st pick is exactly on the number, no argument either way. The one spot they could not leave alone, and did not.
Javion Cohen at the 128th overall pick is a steep price for a hunch, hard to square with any board. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A real head-scratcher, Logan Lee in pick 130 is miles ahead of his ranking. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Cam Hart at pick No. 145 nudges the ledger their way without any fuss. Pure best-available; the position was not exactly begging.
A premium they did not need to pay, Joe Milton III a notch or two before his time. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Luke McCaffrey at No. 170 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
Braelon Allen at the 179th pick is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. It fills a real need, too.
No edge and no loss on Erick All in pick 227; it is a wash and a sensible one. It patches a soft spot without any drama.