B
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings won the night they stopped Carson from sliding. Grade: B.
by Vk ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 4 steals
· 0 reaches
The best pick of the weekend was also the simplest. The Vikings watched Caelen Carson slide 24 picks past his grade and did not hesitate. More right than wrong, and a B to match.
If this class has a fault line, it runs straight through wide receiver. They left with quarterback solved and the rest of the wish list mostly ticked off. Nearly every premium pick went to that side of the ball.
In sum, a sturdy weekend with one asterisk, the wide receiver spot they never got to.
Pick-by-Pick
In slot 11 they get juice off the edge at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
J.J. McCarthy at pick 42 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They barely believed it either: Caelen Carson still on the board at the Round 4 slot. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
By-the-book stuff, Tommy Eichenberg at pick No. 130 squarely in line with his ranking. It adds depth where they could use a little.
Quietly one of the better values of the day, James Williams at Round 5, Pick 9. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Dylan Laube in the 157th pick is a bargain the rest of the room will envy. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A cornerback of that caliber at the 166th overall pick is the definition of value, full stop. A luxury on a unit that was already in good shape.
Nathan Thomas in No. 179 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. They walked in needing this and walked out with it.