Post Day 1 Thoughts

I said it last night to my buddies, Cleveland had a chance at one of the three blue chip guys and passed on it for picks.

Looking at how this fell, they could have taken Hunter and take Shedeur with their 2nd round pick today and generated some excitement for their fan base with a stud WR and his college QB (who I like, especially as a 2nd round pick, way better value than Ward #1 IMO in a weak overall class).

I do the Browns trade each and everyday.   Unicorns tend to vanish quickly,  only a few truly become legendary.  If the ultimate goal is to get a QB, and this draft is devoid of QB talent,  getting 2 1st rounders in next years draft sets you up well.   So they traded back to 5 and got Mason Graham,   have 2 of the next 4 picks,  plenty of other ammo for this years draft,  and again,  2 1st round picks for next year.    

As to the Vikings this is really setting us up for long term success and creating as good of a situation as possible for JJM.  This team is absolutely stacked,  and it will be interesting to see how they finish up this draft, udfa's and any other free agent signings.

Bunsen82 wrote:

As to the Vikings this is really setting us up for long term success and creating as good of a situation as possible for JJM.  This team is absolutely stacked,  and it will be interesting to see how they finish up this draft, udfa's and any other free agent signings.

KOC is certainly a man of his word.  After the behind the woodshed thrashing the Rams gave us with an NFL record-tying 9 embarrassing sacks, KOC was clear that the interior OL had to get fixed.

Brandel has not been kicked to the curb, and Donovan Jackson has not been anointed the starter just yet.   

But if you look at the raw material, at Oregon State, Brandel was a second team All-Pac 12 selection.  Oregon State was not ranked team in 2019.
By contrast, Ohio State was not only ranked the last two years, we all know they were national champions.  Jackson played a higher level of competition.

I like Brandel.  My prediction is that they keep him on the roster, even if he loses his starting spot, because he can back up multiple positions on the line.

JustInTime wrote:
As I previously mentioned, after Booker, Zabel, Barron, and especially Harmon came off the board I was a bit pissed (MB can confirm). Really wanted Harmon and Zabel, in that order. But, I think Jackson is an excellent pick and should vault us into that top 5 OL area. Strong OLs are a great deodorant for just about any shortcoming. The fact that we were looking at Jackson last year makes me wonder if Nic Singelton isn’t on our radar for 26. Bookmark that one.  I’m not surprised the Chargers went with a RB, I am surprised they drafted a guy who is pretty much the same as the guy they signed in FA. 

Sean Payton finds new ways to re-establish himself as a massive douche. Going CB makes no sense to me when your D is already pretty good. Getting Nix another target would have been the move. 

The brain trust in Cleveland is mind numbing. You’ve got a fucking unicorn sitting there and you take quantity over a 1 of 1 prospect. I like Mason Graham but I can get Mason Graham next year. 

Will Campbell. Love the emotion. 

If I’m Kwesi I’m on the phone with my good buddy Andrew Berry and I position myself to get Trey Henderson. Find a way. Just do it. Double Buckeye draft.

Can confirm. In a vacuum I take Harmon over Jackson. But the only reason I liked Jackson a little more than Harmon at that spot is because he was the last top guard. After that it gets sketchy. And there are day-two DTs I like almost as much as Harmon. Agree on Henderson. **** them picks!

MaroonBells wrote:

Can confirm. In a vacuum I take Harmon over Jackson. But the only reason I liked Jackson a little more than Harmon at that spot is because he was the last top guard. After that it gets sketchy. And there are day-two DTs I like almost as much as Harmon. Agree on Henderson. **** them picks!

I also wanted Harmon but I never expected him to fall to us. I am extremely happy with our pick. We will be starting our 2 bookends and 2 guards and a center that were not here a year ago. A very nice looking revamped oline.

Harmon is a really nice prospect but will need a year or 2 to reach his immense potential. That would have worked fine for us but with a deep idl class we would have been better off with DJ anyway.

JustInTime wrote:
As I previously mentioned, after Booker, Zabel, Barron, and especially Harmon came off the board I was a bit pissed (MB can confirm). Really wanted Harmon and Zabel, in that order. But, I think Jackson is an excellent pick and should vault us into that top 5 OL area. Strong OLs are a great deodorant for just about any shortcoming. The fact that we were looking at Jackson last year makes me wonder if Nic Singelton isn’t on our radar for 26. Bookmark that one. 

I’m not surprised the Chargers went with a RB, I am surprised they drafted a guy who is pretty much the same as the guy they signed in FA. 

Sean Payton finds new ways to re-establish himself as a massive douche. Going CB makes no sense to me when your D is already pretty good. Getting Nix another target would have been the move. 

The brain trust in Cleveland is mind numbing. You’ve got a fucking unicorn sitting there and you take quantity over a 1 of 1 prospect. I like Mason Graham but I can get Mason Graham next year. 

Will Campbell. Love the emotion. 

If I’m Kwesi I’m on the phone with my good buddy Andrew Berry and I position myself to get Trey Henderson. Find a way. Just do it. Double Buckeye draft.

Hey, we had the Buckeye serendipity with Big K/Jackson last night. 

Why not Bob Smith/Tre Henderson too!?

Bullazin wrote:
Harmon is a really nice prospect but will need a year or 2 to reach his immense potential. That would have worked fine for us  but with a deep idl class we would have been better off with DJ anyway.

And Harmon would have been rotational at best as a rookie. Loved his fit a year or two from now. He could've figured in at both DT and NT. But with Jackson, we get what really should be a day-one starter. You draft for 2, 3 years down the road so that's not a HUGE difference in my mind, but something to consider. 

Also, more than any other position unit, one weakness on the OL is like blood in shark-infested waters. It can attract a lot of attention. If Jackson is what I think he is, good luck finding the weakness.

My main thoughts are I like the Vikings pick, and WTF Jacksonville? In what world did that trade make any sense. I could probably see trading up for just the 2nd, but I don’t see how also losing next years first makes any sense at all. I don’t see how this makes the Jaguars any closer to being relevant in the next 2 years. This trade makes me actively angry because it’s so confusing. It only makes sort of sense to me if you assume he’s going be playing large amounts of snaps on both sides of the ball and be great at both despite probably missing meetings on one side of the ball.

Browns on the other hand, probably will have 2 firsts in the top 5-10 picks next year, and can get Sanders if they want this year, all for dropping a few spots and still got to land a very good player. You do that every day of the week. You put Hunter on the Browns or the Jags, he’s not going to elevate those franchises. He’s going to play well, get annoyed that they’re still losing all the time and then force his way onto a different team.

Not everyone's a fan of what we did. Of course, Twitter never forgets....

Three ways to lose at the NFL Draft:

1. Reach for players before they are likely to be selected
2. Draft low value positions early
3. Trade up and/or fail to trade down

Anyway just thinking about the Vikings

— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) April 25, 2025

Bunsen82 wrote:
I do the Browns trade each and everyday.   Unicorns tend to vanish quickly,  only a few truly become legendary.  If the ultimate goal is to get a QB, and this draft is devoid of QB talent,  getting 2 1st rounders in next years draft sets you up well.   So they traded back to 5 and got Mason Graham,   have 2 of the next 4 picks,  plenty of other ammo for this years draft,  and again,  2 1st round picks for next year.    

As to the Vikings this is really setting us up for long term success and creating as good of a situation as possible for JJM.  This team is absolutely stacked,  and it will be interesting to see how they finish up this draft, udfa's and any other free agent signings.

Really? Who are these other unicorns that play both ways and are rated 1 at two positions? Last guy I can think of is Chuck Bednarnik.

MaroonBells wrote:
Not everyone's a fan of what we did. Of course, Twitter never forgets....

Three ways to lose at the NFL Draft:

1. Reach for players before they are likely to be selected
2. Draft low value positions early
3. Trade up and/or fail to trade down

Anyway just thinking about the Vikings

— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) April 25, 2025

Word is the Texans really wanted Donovan Jackson.  Giants offered us the same deal...  34+97+future 3rd for 24.  If we took the Giants deal we don't have Jackson (woulda went to Houston) but we have the 2nd pick of the 2nd round and another late 3rd and 3rd next year.

Also, sounds like Jackson was the last of the top 20 guys on our board that we would have picked at 24.  If we did the Giants deal, we'd have Brandel penciled in at LG and looking at Henderson (RB), Emmanwori (S), Will Johnson (CB), or Revel or Amos at CB?  The OGs really drop off after Jackson unless we thought Ersery or some of the OTs left could slide in to OG...

Would have been a different draft, with that first pick.  We'll see what they do today and tomorrow.  Still think the Atlanta deal for a future 1 would have been tempting.  Last time we passed on that it was a huge mistake in 2022.  Hopefully it's not a big missed opportunity and Jackson is an All-Pro.

MAD GAINZ wrote:

Word is the Texans really wanted Donovan Jackson.  Giants offered us the same deal...  34+97+future 3rd for 24.  If we took the Giants deal we don't have Jackson (woulda went to Houston) but we have the 2nd pick of the 2nd round and another late 3rd and 3rd next year.

Also, sounds like Jackson was the last of the top 20 guys on our board that we would have picked at 24.  If we did the Giants deal, we'd have Brandel penciled in at LG and looking at Henderson (RB), Emmanwori (S), Will Johnson (CB), or Revel or Amos at CB?  The OGs really drop off after Jackson unless we thought Ersery or some of the OTs left could slide in to OG...

Would have been a different draft, with that first pick.  We'll see what they do today and tomorrow.  Still think the Atlanta deal for a future 1 would have been tempting.  Last time we passed on that it was a huge mistake in 2022.  Hopefully it's not a big missed opportunity and Jackson is an All-Pro.

Unless they landed a stud RB, I wasn't looking for help from this draft for 25. Maybe thats setting the bar too low?

But Jackson changes that calculus. I think their expectation is he's starting by the opener

I'm curious to watch and see what they do the rest of the weekend.

Montana Tom wrote:

KOC is certainly a man of his word.  After the behind the woodshed thrashing the Rams gave us with an NFL record-tying 9 embarrassing sacks, KOC was clear that the interior OL had to get fixed.

Brandel has not been kicked to the curb, and Donovan Jackson has not been anointed the starter just yet.   

But if you look at the raw material, at Oregon State, Brandel was a second team All-Pac 12 selection.  Oregon State was not ranked team in 2019.
By contrast, Ohio State was not only ranked the last two years, we all know they were national champions.  Jackson played a higher level of competition.

I like Brandel.  My prediction is that they keep him on the roster, even if he loses his starting spot, because he can back up multiple positions on the line.

Watching Brandel play since 2012,I never saw him  play guard in high school or college.  

 Vikings moved him there and wanted him there,  it was  Risner who was asked to switch to RG. 

Through the first 6 weeks of 2024  season Darrisaw gave up 5 pressures and Brandel gave up 6 and they gave up zero sacks.   Darnold  had no blind slide pressure which  had a lot to do with why he started hot.
 they went 5-0 and trailed for 3 m minutes in all 5 games. 

Darrisaws injury changed everything and I think it's why Darnold hit a wall  in games 7-10

My take: Rarely do you see an NFL team take such a single-minded approach, not to mention devote this level of resources, to fix a personnel problem as the Vikings have this offseason for their interior offensive line.

They used their first-round pick to draft Jackson, turning down multiple offers to trade down and accumulate more selections in what at the moment is a four-pick draft for them, and will soon plug him in at left guard.

That came one month after they committed $106 million in free agency for new center Ryan Kelly and new right guard Will Fries.

Among other things, this approach demonstrates the influence coach Kevin O'Connell now has in the organization.

It was O'Connell, after all, who said this in the moments after his team gave up nine sacks and struggled to run the ball in their wild-card playoff loss to the Rams: "There's no question we've got to find a way to solidify the interior of the pocket."

Will he start as a rookie: Incumbent left guard Blake Brandel remains on the roster, and O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said the Vikings will host a competition to ensure their best five offensive linemen are on the field when the season begins. But there seems to be little doubt that Jackson, barring injury, will be a starter at some point in his rookie season.

Said O'Connell Thursday: "The idea of Donovan walking into that O-line room that now has some pretty impactful players across the board there was something that was a goal, and I think tonight really put a stamp on a plan that we set out to accomplish."

ESPN

Story + VIDEO: The #Vikings on Friday introduced first round pick Donovan Jackson.

The most interesting thing about the newest offensive lineman? He has a cat named "Leonardo DiCatio." @FOX9 | https://t.co/6vnQH2dmL9

— Jeff Wald (@JeffWaldFox9) April 25, 2025