A
Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings let Bowman Jr. fall and pounced. Final grade: A.
by DrDug ·
2025 NFL Draft
· 8 picks
· 8 steals
· 0 reaches
The best pick of the weekend was also the simplest. The Vikings watched Billy Bowman Jr. slide 79 picks past his grade and did not hesitate. Just about everything broke right, and the A follows.
Every deal seemed to tilt their way, which is not luck. A whole weekend of picks and quarterback is somehow still a want.
It is a bet on later, and a defensible one for a team playing the long game.
Add it up and few war rooms did better this weekend, Ashton Jeanty and all.
Pick-by-Pick
In the 24th overall pick they get a centerpiece for the ground game, and a steal at that. A real need, handled.
In the 29th pick they get a two-high chess piece, outstanding value to boot. The biggest hole, addressed.
T.J. Sanders at slot 61 is daylight robbery; nobody expected him to last. A need, and now a little less of one.
Taking Jihaad Campbell in Round 3, Pick 31 is close to grand larceny; a linebacker that good had no business lasting this long. Useful body for a position without much behind the starter.
Steal is underselling it; Jake Majors at the Round 5 slot is a heist with the alarm still ringing. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Luke Kandra in No. 139 is a gift, value that borders on unfair. It answers the question that was keeping the coaches up at night.
You do not let a running back like Kalel Mullings reach pick No. 166 and blink. They did not. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.
Somehow Billy Bowman Jr. was still sitting there in pick 188, and they pounced on premier safety value. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.