A Look at the 2025 Draft Class from the Vikings’ Perspective

The draft is just a week away and NFL teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, will have been busy putting the final touches on their draft board after completing all their Top 30 visits and other due diligence that has taken place in the weeks and months leading up to this draft. Vikings’ GM Kwesi Adofo Mensah and his staff will also be planning out his draft strategy, along with the 31 other GMs, looking at his draft picks, making some estimates of where prospects may be drafted, and making and taking calls with other GMs exploring potential trades.

We have no inside information into those discussions- if we did it would no longer be inside information- but we do have some data points in terms of team needs, prospects the Vikings have met with, and some overall assessments of this draft class that could shed some light on how the Vikings may navigate this draft starting next Thursday.

Let’s take a look.

Vikings’ Draft Picks

The Vikings hold the #24 (late first round), #97 (end of third round), #139 (first pick of fifth round), and #187 (top half of sixth round). Overall, the Vikings have the least amount of draft capital of any team this year.

Overall Assessment of this Draft Class

The prevailing view of this draft seems to be that there aren’t a lot of star prospects- top-tier talent with All-Pro potential. It’s not just the lack of quarterback talent in this class relative to others, but other positions as well. That means there probably isn’t a full slate of prospects with top-half of the first round grades. One GM is quoted as saying there are only 4-5 “blue chip” players and after that 40 players with late first round or second round grades. So, it isn’t a good year to be picking in the #8-#15 range- available players at that point may have only late first round grades.

However, this draft class is seen as a relatively deep one for second-tier prospects- solid players with upside and early starter potential. That means there are a bunch of players from around the middle of the first round to around the beginning of the third round that may have similar grades, although teams could differ in their assessment of the same prospect from, say, the bottom of the first round to the bottom of the second round. Of course there are scheme fit and other factors that may cause one team to value a prospect higher or lower than another team. But there are a lot of experienced players that could be early starters in this range.

Beyond that, this draft class is seen as a deeper one for running backs, defensive linemen, and tight ends, but running back may be the strongest of all the position groups. It’s also said to be a good class for tackles and wide receivers, although there isn’t much for top-tier talent beyond Travis Hunter in the latter position group. The same is thought of the quarterback group- not much top-tier talent but good depth.

Vikings Position Needs

The Vikings could use reinforcements at both offensive and defensive interior, despite their free agency splashes in those groups, as three of the four players they signed are over 30 and they could still use an upgrade at left guard.

Beyond that, they could use another cornerback, tight end, running back, and quarterback. Another safety/slot type would be nice too, along with a punter- but they need not spend a draft pick on the latter.

Navigating the Draft

Putting all of the above together, and plugging in prospects the Vikings have met with, we can begin to fill in some of the pieces about how the Vikings may be preparing to navigate the draft.

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Pick #24

The only prospect the Vikings have met with that may go near this pick is DT Derrick Harmon, who they’ve met with twice- once at a Top 30 visit and the other a formal meeting at the Combine. Harmon is 28th on the consensus board. Undoubtedly the Vikings have other possible picks here, assuming they don’t/can’t trade out of the pick, but presumably are keeping them on the down low. The Vikings also met with QB Cam Ward and RB Ashton Jeanty at the Combine, despite the fact that they’ll go in the top six picks.

Many pundits have the Vikings trading down here- and there is plenty of buzz suggesting the Vikings are open to trading down. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is known as a trade-down GM (although he’s traded up too) and the Vikings have the least amount of draft capital in the league this year, so trading down makes sense from that standpoint too.

The Vikings certainly appear to have prepared for that scenario, as they’ve met with nine players that could go in the second or early-third round based on a consensus board of 14 major outlets.

#33 CB Shavon Revel Jr.

#34 OT Josh Conerly Jr.

#40 CB Trey Amos

#37 G/T Donovan Jackson

#44 OT/G Aireontae Ersery

#48 LB Carson Schwesinger

#55 G Jonah Savaiinaea

#64 OL Marcus Mbow

#76 DT Shemar Turner

That’s a lot of prospect meetings- including recent ones- with guys that aren’t expected to go close to the Vikings’ current picks (#24 and #97). Consensus boards are not accurate in predicting when every prospect will be drafted, and in this draft in particular teams could have players expected to go in the late first to early third rounds ranked differently as there are a lot of players in this range with similar grades.

Be that as it may, that’s still a lot of players for the Vikings to have met with that would not seem to be a great value at #24, nor expected to be there at #97.

All that suggests the Vikings will trade down and maybe already have a deal or potential deals lined up. In fact, there could potentially be a bidding war for the Vikings’ pick if the draft goes a certain way. Let me explain.

The most likely candidates to trade up for the Vikings’ #24 pick are QB-needy teams picking in the early second round. These include the Browns, Giants, Raiders, and Saints. That’s already a lot of teams. Things could get especially interesting depending on if Shedeur Shanders or Jaxson Dart are picked ahead of the Vikings at #24. That doesn’t seem likely- although desperate teams do desperate things sometimes. The word is that the Steelers’ priority is defensive line at #21, although if their guys are gone they could consider QB. But they still have PTSD from the Kenny Pickett pick, so that seems less likely. The Saints could also go QB at #9, but that’s really high for either Sanders or Dart and the Saints have a lot of other needs. Anyway, both Sanders and Dart could be there at #24 and that could lead to a bidding war amongst the QB-needy teams trying to get ahead of the Rams- just in case they decide to go QB at #26. The Rams themselves could look to trade up as well.

And then there is the Kansas City Chiefs. There is a rumor that the Chiefs would like to trade up for a tackle if their guy is there and would like to trade up ahead of the Texans (#25) and Rams (#26) to do so.

That gets us to six teams potentially in the market for the Vikings pick at #24. We’ll see how it plays out, but there’s a lot more to suggest the Vikings will trade back at #24 than either trade up or stick and pick. In fact, the Vikings could end up trading more than once before making their first pick.

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Pick #97

Any trades that happen in advance of this pick are certainly likely to influence how the Vikings manage this pick, particularly if it is involved in a trade. In a no trade scenario, where the Vikings pick DT Derrick Harmon at #24, the Vikings might use this pick on an offensive linemen like Emery Jones Jr. to compete at left guard.

However, in a trade down scenario the Vikings seem likely to address the offensive line ahead of this pick- given how many second round offensive linemen they’ve met with- and ideally cornerback as well. My guess is that doing both would involve trading away #97 to move up with the second acquired pick from a trade down, which would be fine especially if it lands the Vikings a better player. Below are the prospects the Vikings have met with along with their consensus ranking around the #97 pick.

#86 RB Cam Skattebo

#94 OL Charles Grant

#97 Vikings’ 3rd Round Pick

#100 OL Emery Jones Jr.

#105 CB Dorian Strong

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In either a stick-and-pick or trade down scenario, and assuming the Vikings’ #139 isn’t impacted by a trade, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings go with a running back here. They’ve met with a couple that could go around this range- three if you include Kalel Mullings at #175. The Vikings have met with a number of hard to bring down but not home run type running backs. Guys that can turn a five-yard run into ten or fifeteen by putting a move on a linebacker or breaking through a defensive back, but don’t have the breakaway speed to take it to the house. But they are good at getting to the end zone in goal line and red zone situations, where the Vikings have struggled the most in the run game. Jordan James, Kalel Mullings, and Cam Skattebo are these types of backs that will challenge a defense’s tackling ability and can close out games on the ground when necessary. The expectation for a running back drafted this year would be to become the RB2 next year behind Jordan Mason after the Vikings (likely) move on from Aaron Jones.

#125 WR Tai Felton

#137 RB Jordan James

#138 CB Cobee Bryant

#139 Vikings’ 5th Round Pick

#150 RB Brashard Smith

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Pick #187

I suspect this pick will most likely be a tight end as the Vikings need to add one or two more to their roster and have met with a couple that could go in this range. Depending on how the draft unfolds, this could be another pick where Kwesi opts to trade down and pick up a 7th rounder, which might be used on a defensive tackle.

#175 RB Kalel Mullings

#176 ED Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins

#177 OT/G Jalen Travis

#181 DT Cam Jackson

#184 TE Thomas Fidone

#187 Vikings’ 6th Round Pick

#198 TE Oronde Gadsden II

#205 CB Bilhal Kone

#213 OG Luke Kandra

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UDFAs

Often times in more recent years, who is drafted late can come down to whether a team feels they can land the prospect as a UDFA or not. Those they want but feel like he’ll sign with another team if he goes undrafted may get prioritized with a late pick. The Vikings have met with several UDFA options at their positions of need, and I would expect the Vikings to sign an offensive and defensive lineman (at least one), a couple defensive backs, a running back, quarterback, and a punter.

#227 ED Tyler Batty

#230 DT Nazir Stackhouse

#231 DT Warren Brinson

#249 RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt

#256 TE Benjamin Yurosek

#269 QB Max Brosener

#327 C Jacob Bayer

#365 G Nash Jones

#399 T/G Caleb Etienne

#402 CB Korie Black

#501 S Zion Childress

#515 G Easton Kilty

N/A ED Danny Striggow

N/A OL Jared Penning

N/A WR Chandler Brayboy

N/A OL Aiden Williams

Bottom Line

If the Vikings opt to trade down with their #24 pick, as seems likely, that could potentially allow them to pick two potential starters- an offensive lineman and maybe a cornerback. But that scenario also makes it less likely that they sign a top interior defensive lineman.

Beyond that, it seems the Vikings are eyeballing mostly ancillary running backs and tight ends with their two late round picks, depending on how the draft unfolds.

Poll

If the Vikings trade down with their #24 pick, it will be with which team?

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  Kansas City Chiefs

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  Philadelphia Eagles

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  Los Angeles Rams

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  Cleveland Browns

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  New York Giants

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  New York Jets

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  New Orleans Saints

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