B
Minnesota Vikings
A passer of the future in Maye, and a B, for the Vikings.
by emc2feld ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 12 picks
· 5 steals
· 2 reaches
The one hole that towered over the rest is filled. The Vikings spent their marquee pick on Drake Maye, and for the first time in a while there is a real answer at quarterback. Nothing here to lose sleep over; call it a B.
Reaching for Hartman left real value on the table behind him. Rouse at that cost is the sort of edge that compounds over a roster. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped interior defensive lineman, which is a strange place to end up.
Almost all the early capital went to that side of the ball.
All told, a draft that does its job without fuss, and there is real value in that.
Pick-by-Pick
Drake Maye in No. 8 is fair value, right on his grade. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They did well to land Christian Haynes in the 69th overall pick, just ahead of his grade. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
A market-rate linebacker, with the board and the slot shaking hands on Cedric Gray. Useful depth more than a marquee fix.
They talked themselves into Justin Eboigbe at the Round 4 slot, and the board did not agree. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
They took Tommy Eichenberg at par in the 145th pick, which is nothing to complain about. It is more luxury than necessity; they were already set here.
A tidy bit of business in pick No. 157, where Mason McCormick graded well above the range. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
A top-tier safety at a bargain, Kitan Oladapo in slot 177, plain and simple. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They will replay Walter Rouse at Round 6, Pick 12 for years; that is how good the value is. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
They robbed the room for Tahj Washington here, a fall nobody at the table saw coming. A need, and now a little less of one.
Erick All in the 222nd pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
A tidy little value on Frank Gore Jr. in the 230th overall pick, a step better than break-even. It fills a real need, too.
This one needs a full-page explanation: Sam Hartman in slot 232, miles early. Top of the wish list, and they did not leave without it.