Vikings Links: 2 Days Until The Draft

Let’s see those mocks today with the position you want taken first!

A good article about Aeneas Peebles but also includes a caution about Emmanwori.

2025 NFL Draft Value Plays: Comparable talent, better investment after Round 1

Why draft Walter Nolen in the first round when you can take Aeneas Peebles in the third?

Walter Nolen made the most out of his transfer to Mississippi this season, posting a 91.6 run-defense grade for the year, second best in the country to only Michigan’s Mason Graham. He is a bowling ball of a prospect who used his quick first step and power to register six sacks and 35 total pressures.

While his first step and natural power pop on film, I’m not as sold as some others on his prospects for the NFL. While he showed the ability to win off the ball, he did not display a wide array of pass-rush and counter moves, and at times, he struggled to shed blockers. This can often be a sign of a player with short arms, and sure enough, he measured at just 32 ½-inches at the combine. He also weighed in at just 296 pounds and did not participate in the on-field workout. At his pro day ,the only athletic event he measured was the short shuttle, and his 4.76 seconds would have finished just eighth among the 10 interior defenders to time at the combine.

One of the interior defenders who bettered his pro day effort was Virginia Tech’s Aeneas Peebles (4.70 seconds). He also impressed with a 4.94-second 40-yard dash, but like Nolen, he measured in with short arms (31 ⅜ inches). He truly impressed the most on the football field in 2024.

A transfer from Duke, Peebles graded out as one of the best all-around defensive interiors in the country last season. He graded positively on a solid 20.4% of run-defense plays and ranked first in the nation with a 91.3 pass-rush grade. His 17.8% all-around pass-rush win percentage and his 27.3% win percentage on true pass sets both ranked No. 1. Comparatively, Nolen’s win rate on true pass sets was just 19.5% and ranked him 14th nationally.

He possesses first-step explosiveness just like Nolen, but he is ahead of Nolen at this point in terms of having a plan when taking on blockers. He doesn’t try winning with plain brute strength, as he has a variety of swims and rips that he syncs up with his quick feet, allowing him to gain consistent penetration.

Vikings need a defensive tackle that can get after the passer!

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Minnesota Vikings News and Links

Kevin O’Connell talks Vikings’ backup QB options, NFL draft approach

Speaking to reporters on Monday, which marked the first day of the Vikings’ offseason program, head coach Kevin O’Connell was asked about the team’s plan at backup quarterback.

“We’ve been patient and evaluated a lot of different ways that we can potentially do that,” he said. “There’s potential trades and free agency and still the draft. We’re going through a process of just figuring out who is the player we want to solidify that room with, knowing that J.J. [McCarthy] and Brett [Rypien] are here working, starting today, and eventually we’ll complete that room out and still have a competitive situation in there. We’ve got a pretty detailed plan for how we want to go about it. When that happens, the timing of it remains to be seen.”

The obvious assumption is that the Vikings are waiting until after the draft for multiple reasons. If they were to sign someone like Carson Wentz — the most notable non-Aaron Rodgers free agent still on the market — they wouldn’t be risking impacting the compensatory pick formula after the draft. (They could also sign Ryan Tannehill, who was never going to impact comp picks because he didn’t play last year).

The two names that have come up as potential Vikings QB trade targets are the Seahawks’ Sam Howell and the Raiders’ Aidan O’Connell, but there could be all kinds of other possibilities that come out of seemingly nowhere.

O’Connell on Vikings’ draft approach

The big event of the week for the Vikings isn’t the start of the offseason program, it’s the NFL draft, which runs from Thursday through Saturday. They’ve been preparing for this moment for a long time, and despite having a league-low four picks, they’ve done their due diligence on this class as if they have more selections than they do. That approach, O’Connell said, should allow them to feel very confident in their board whenever their picks do come up.

“I think we’ve gone about the process as if we have much more than four picks,” he said. “It certainly feels like it, and I’m sure it’ll really feel like it on Thursday and Friday and Saturday when we’re recognizing a lot of these names that are getting selected. But at the same time, when our picks come up, we should have a really, really good feel for the players in those areas and have done a lot of work on the players that we’ll be adding to the team.”

“Looking at what we did in free agency, I truly do feel like we have a roster that really — I don’t know if we’re gonna be on the clock at any one of those particular four picks and think we need to do anything. But at the same time, I think where the depth of this draft is, and you’re not only just drafting for 2025, you’re trying to build something that sustains. And what does your depth look like at different positions? Where can you have really competitive situations that will make your team better?

“A lot of the guys we targeted (in free agency) are Minnesota Vikings, and that’s across offense, defense, that’s across a lot of different positions. To know that the ‘target to get them to sign ratio,’ we’re hitting for a pretty good average right now for a lot of different reasons, a lot of different people who put in a lot of hard work and what this place has become, and players want to come play here. So now we’ve got a roster we feel like we can truly be selective on who we’re gonna pick.”

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Kevin O’Connell on Opening Message for 2025, J.J. McCarthy’s Progress & Draft Goals

“Always love this building when we’ve got players in it,” O’Connell told Twin Cities media members about four hours after players and coaches held their first meeting at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center. “It’s one of my favorite times of the year, whether it’s players we’ve added, impactful guys we’ve brought back, and seeing the group of guys in that team meeting room to kick it all off, fantastic for us as coaches, and as we continue to kind of steamroll through our roles in the offseason, getting the players back and getting them going.”

“One of the things I shared with the guys this morning, they hear it in this meeting every year, no matter what we built here — no matter what the players, more importantly, have built here — from a culture standpoint, winning a lot of football games, that really doesn’t mean a whole lot,” O’Connell relayed to media members when asked to summarize his first message to this year’s team. “This is a new team, this is a new version of the Minnesota Vikings in 2025, and I think it’s important that we really evaluate individually and collectively, what are we doing on a daily basis to make sure that we can reinvent and become what we’ve been, but push beyond that and really start — we’ve made it to the playoffs two out of the last three years. But when I look at it, and I really think about our football teams in those moments, were we a championship-worthy team? That’s for everyone to decide.

“But we know here, the little areas, the small improvements that we can make, and why wait to when those games get a little bit closer on the horizon, why wait to talk like that? We should be talking in a way where every action, everything we say, think and do, needs to be applied with what we all know that common goal is,” he added. “But the way this league works in 17 games and trying to find your way to punch your ticket into the playoffs is one thing, but what’s it like when you get there? What’s your football team like? What’s the makeup of your team look like? And how does that translate to having a real chance to go, to go after that Lombardi Trophy? So I think this time of year, it’s just Phase 1. We’re on a very limited schedule with these guys. You don’t want to come out and give your best pep talk you’ve ever had, but you need to make sure that these guys know from day one we have laser focus on getting a little bit better, on finding ways to improve, being selfish about being a great teammate and committing to this time of year for the value that it does still have. And then let’s take it with that same minute-by-minute approach, maximizing our time together, and see what that looks like when this eight, nine weeks ends.”

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Vikings injury updates on J.J. McCarthy, Christian Darrisaw, others

Head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke to the media on Monday about a number of different topics. One of them was the status of various players who are recovering from significant injuries. Here’s what he had to say:

J.J. McCarthy (knee)

O’Connell is excited about how this spring will set up for McCarthy to progress from the classroom to the practice field and “hit the ground running.” It doesn’t sound like his knee will keep from him doing anything.

“I’d consider him full,” O’Connell said. “Really no limitations.”

Christian Darrisaw (knee)

“Christian has absolutely knocked it out of the park so far,” O’Connell said. “He’s had a really, really good offseason up to this point. The latest update I got, he’s lifting, he’s running. … The player that I see right now and the player I know his teammates came back to see today, people were pretty excited about where he’s at. Now it’s just a matter of maintaining, and he’s had such a professional focus really from day one, remarkably. He’s just had such a good attitude about attacking it.”

“Mekhi Blackmon is a guy kind of heading towards the end point of that rehab from his ACL, and I see him progressing to football activities here as we move through the spring,” O’Connell said.

Two of the Vikings’ marquee newcomers, DT Javon Hargrave and RG Will Fries, are coming off season-ending injuries last year and are “in a similar spot,” according to O’Connell. They’ll “probably be limited a bit early on but should progress throughout the spring,” he said, especially as the Vikings move into phase two of the offseason program.

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Harrison Smith says coming back for a 14th season was an easy decision

For Harrison Smith, choosing to come back for a 14th season with the Vikings in 2025 was actually easier than last year’s decision to return for a 13th season.

“I think it was one I probably struggled less with than the year prior,” Smith said on Monday. “Just as far as how the season went, as a team, as a defense, and then individually, how I feel physically. How much drive I still have left with the game, with preparation, with playing on game day, being part of a team. There was some thought a bunch of different ways, but I kinda had a feeling when the season ended, I was like ‘this is probably not the last time I’ll put on pads.’”

“It wasn’t much more than ‘Do I think I can play? Do I think I can contribute at a high level? Does the team still want me? Is it still fun?’” Smith said. “For the organization, what are chasing? How realistic is that? Those were all things I came to an answer pretty quick on.”

“Starting with KO, coming in and establishing a culture of winning and always trying to find an edge in whatever department, not just scheme, but how you go about the day-to-day operations, how you build the chemistry of a team to start with,” Smith said. “There’s a foundation that’s been set.”

“I’m not focused on anything but today and (year) 14,” Smith said. “We got a lot to do this year, so that’s all I care about.”

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Breer identifies six players the Vikings could be looking to get in the NFL draft

According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, there are “a couple of people who know the organization well” and they expect Minnesota continue trying to get “get bigger and tougher up front,” following the free agency strategy that saw the Vikings sign Ryan Kelly and Will Fries to the offensive line, and Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen to the defensive line.

Breer went out of his way to name four players who would fit the bigger and tougher in the trenches mentality for the Vikings with the No. 24 pick: defensive tackles Derrick Harmon (Oregon) and Kenneth Grant (Michigan), and offensive guards Donovan Jackson (Ohio State) and Jonah Savaiinaea (Arizona).

Breer also named Georgia safety Malaki Starks and Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron as good fits for Minnesota’s defense under coordinator Brian Flores.

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Yore Mock

Trades

Trade Partner: Jacksonville Jaguars

Sent: Round 1 Pick 24

Received: Round 2 Pick 4, Round 3 Pick 6

…

Trade Partner: New York Giants

Sent: Round 3 Pick 33

Received: Round 4 Pick 3, Round 5 Pick 16

…

Trade Partner: Carolina Panthers

Sent: Round 4 Pick 3

Received: Round 4 Pick 9, Round 5 Pick 25

…

36: R2 P4 S Nick Emmanwori – South Carolina

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70: R3 P6 G Jonah Savaiinaea – Arizona

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111: R4 P9 DL Aeneas Peebles – Virginia Tech

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139: R5 P1 CB Zah Frazier – UTSA

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154: R5 P16 RB Brashard Smith – SMU

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163: R5 P25 TE Oronde Gadsden II – Syracuse

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187: R6 P11 DL Nazir Stackhouse – Georgia

Photo by CFP/Getty Images

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UDFA

QB Brady Cook – Missouri

RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt – Arizona

WR Elijhah Badger – Florida

TE Jackson Hawes – Georgia Tech

C Jacob Bayer – Arkansas State

OT Caleb Etienne – BYU

LB Kain Medrano – UCLA

EDGE Ethan Downs – Oklahoma

CB Korie Black – Oklahoma State

P Kai Kroeger – South Carolina

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