Kwesi Was Sweating

Offensive line picks are never sexy, but they are important. Hopefully Jackson is a stud and we're looking back at this off-season as the watershed movement where our OL went from middle of the pack to the top tier. We invested a lot of resources into it, now it's time to win some games in January and February.

And yet many argue Jackson was a reach. The team he was most frequently mocked to was Houston, who sat at 25. He wouldn't have gotten past Houston, but even if he did, I don't think he gets to the 2nd round. 

I'll put it this way, if you think Jackson was a reach, the names Willie Offord, Michael Boireau and Dimitrius Underwood mean nothing to you.

Its pretty clear they were targeting 2 players at the pick, Harmon or Jackson. So not a surprise they were sweating once Harmon was off the board.

I think they were targeting DL, OL, and WR, so the way the board fell I am not sure they could have ended up with a better set of the 3 for what they were looking for. It does make you wonder who was higher on the board, Sai'vion Jones or Felton.

Honestly, Jones got a few more tackles this year, but other than that Ingram Dawkins seems to have more burst and athletic ability. I think the two are actually pretty similar and were both probably pretty high on our board.

I would love to see what their board was, but all in all I do think they found 3 very productive players in their first 3 picks. I expect Kobe King to impact special teams, and have develop a role on early downs.

MaroonBells wrote:
And yet many argue Jackson was a reach. The team he was most frequently mocked to was Houston, who sat at 25. He wouldn't have gotten past Houston, but even if he did, I don't think he gets to the 2nd round. 

I'll put it this way, if you think Jackson was a reach, the names Willie Offord, Michael Boireau and Dimitrius Underwood mean nothing to you.

It came out that Houston was planning to take Jackson.  They traded out after we picked him.

If Jackson is a high level starter I don't care that he was picked at 24. If he is the next Ed Ingram time for Kwesi to move on.

Still Hurtn wrote:
If Jackson is a high level starter I don't care that he was picked at 24. If he is the next Ed Ingram time for Kwesi to move on.

Ed Ingram was taken it the second round...now THAT was the definition of a reach...

Just really interesting the way the draft unfolded when you had so many players that you would believe the Vikings would have had high interest in being selected higher than expected. I think it goes to show the top end talent in this draft wasn't as strong as in recent years and you had teams throwing darts. Started with Tyler Booker going 12th and you just go down the list from there; Kenneth Grant, Walter Nolen, Shemar Stewart, Grey Zabel, Jahdae Barron, Derrick Harmon, and Omarion Hampton. All players linked to the Vikings through various reports and mock drafts and we had no ammo to move up if we wanted to secure any of them. Jackson was literally the last guy left in the room. People can say it was an overdraft (most draft reviews I've seen) but the cupboard was bare and if we didn't take him there, good chance we would come away without a top prospect to upgrade one of our lines, which I think most of us knew was the priority. We weren't taking a safety there and weren't going to reach for a corner either. I'm extremely happy with the Jackson pick and with the way the draft unfolded it wasn't a surprise to hear Kwesi sweating out the pick

Bunsen82 wrote:
Its pretty clear they were targeting 2 players at the pick, Harmon or Jackson.  So not a surprise they were sweating once Harmon was off the board. 

I think they were targeting DL, OL, and WR,  so the way the board fell I am not sure they could have ended up with a better set of the 3 for what they were looking for.  It does make you wonder who was higher on the board, Sai'vion Jones or Felton. 

Honestly,  Jones got a few more tackles this year,  but other than that Ingram Dawkins seems to have more burst and athletic ability.  I think the two are actually pretty similar and were both probably pretty high on our board. 

I would love to see what their board was,  but all in all I do think they found 3 very productive players in their first 3 picks.  I expect Kobe King to impact special teams, and have develop a role on early downs.

Physically, Jones and Ingram-Dawkins are twins and perfect fits for the 5T/4i position. I tend to think they really liked Tai Felton, but if Denver didn't jump us, I think we would have taken Sai'vion Jones (Denver doesn't make that move without a reason), and when that happened, we went with Felton, a player they probably thought of as a pretty damn good plan B.

Bunsen82 wrote:
Its pretty clear they were targeting 2 players at the pick, Harmon or Jackson.  So not a surprise they were sweating once Harmon was off the board. 

I think they were targeting DL, OL, and WR,  so the way the board fell I am not sure they could have ended up with a better set of the 3 for what they were looking for.  It does make you wonder who was higher on the board, Sai'vion Jones or Felton. 

Honestly,  Jones got a few more tackles this year,  but other than that Ingram Dawkins seems to have more burst and athletic ability.  I think the two are actually pretty similar and were both probably pretty high on our board. 

I would love to see what their board was,  but all in all I do think they found 3 very productive players in their first 3 picks.  I expect Kobe King to impact special teams, and have develop a role on early downs.

It came out that Houston was planning to take Jackson.  They traded out after we picked him.

KOC drafts WR's like Zimsu used to draft DB's....

supafreak84 wrote:
Just really interesting the way the draft unfolded when you had so many players that you would believe the Vikings would have had high interest in being selected higher than expected. I think it goes to show the top end talent in this draft wasn't as strong as in recent years and you had teams throwing darts. Started with Tyler Booker going 12th and you just go down the list from there; Kenneth Grant, Walter Nolen, Shemar Stewart, Grey Zabel, Jahdae Barron, Derrick Harmon, and Omarion Hampton. All players linked to the Vikings through various reports and mock drafts and we had no ammo to move up if we wanted to secure any of them. Jackson was literally the last guy left in the room. People can say it was an overdraft (most draft reviews I've seen) but the cupboard was bare and if we didn't take him there, good chance we would come away without a top prospect to upgrade one of our lines, which I think most of us knew was the priority. We weren't taking a safety there and weren't going to reach for a corner either. I'm extremely happy with the Jackson pick and with the way the draft unfolded it wasn't a surprise to hear Kwesi sweating out the pick

I would not have been happy if the Vikings had traded up for any of those players. Booker and Grant weren't fits, Walter Nolen has character issues, Hampton can't move laterally, Barron plays a position that we can still fill at any point between now and training camp. I liked Stewart, Zabel and Harmon, but would not have wanted to trade up for any of them. IMO, all were in a tier that ran about 50 deep. It's not wise to trade up in tiers like that. 

I think that if Jackson weren't there, I suspect we may have traded down and taken one of the safeties, the CB Hairston or Jonah Savaiinaea, who's a very similar player to Jackson. The Vikings brought in two top guards for top 30 visits: Jackson and Savaiinaea.

StickierBuns wrote:

Yep, don't doubt it. But thats what happens when you draft in a spot like 24th, you watch players go that you like. Happens to every team that drafts in those positions. That's why I see a few fans always wanting to 'trade up' every year for Player X and that's not how you should be doing it. Stick and pick, get a starter and have a nice number of picks for 2026.

Our lack of draft picks certainly impacted our ability to move around. When a lot of those players linked to us started to fly off the board we could only sit and watch and I think we were very fortunate that Jackson was still on the board. If you would have told me before the draft that we wouldn't have 3 or 4 of these guys to choose from at #24, I wouldn't have believed it, but the lack of top end talent played out and you started to see players picked much earlier than expected.

“It was the best facility I’ve ever seen.”

Donovan Jackson knew where he wanted to be after his pre draft visit. pic.twitter.com/k1dDwXtfcT

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) May 7, 2025

JustInTime wrote:
https://x.com/vikingzfanpage/status/1919925348503793755?s=46&t=TjjB9Q4BmOwmN74RrrMjoQ

Really likable guy. If he can avoid the many mental errors that come with starting as a rookie, he's going to quickly become a fan favorite.

MaroonBells wrote:

I would not have been happy if the Vikings had traded up for any of those players. Booker and Grant weren't fits, Walter Nolen has character issues, Hampton can't move laterally, Barron plays a position that we can still fill at any point between now and training camp. I liked Stewart, Zabel and Harmon, but would not have wanted to trade up for any of them. IMO, all were in a tier that ran about 50 deep. It's not wise to trade up in tiers like that. 

I think that if Jackson weren't there, I suspect we may have traded down and taken one of the safeties, the CB Hairston or Jonah Savaiinaea, who's a very similar player to Jackson. The Vikings brought in two top guards for top 30 visits: Jackson and Savaiinaea.

I don't think Jonah has the stregnth and needs to get stronger. I liked Jonah, I just don't think he is on the same level as Jackson. I don't think Jackson has the bust factor, but you have to wonder with Jonah. He gets pushed back enough for me to question. HIs movement and placement need to be refined as well. 

I am very happy with Jackson. You summed it up very well. Looks like you and I were on the same page with the draft strategy as well.

StickierBuns wrote:
https://x.com/Vikings/status/1920112633115545725

I normally don't care for IOL picks in the first round, but I like this kid.  Makes it even better when you can tell a guy is genuinely happy to be here and excited about the opportunity.  Hopefully he's a stud and helps JJ McCarthy realize his potential. Feels like we have something special brewing here...

MAD GAINZ wrote:

I normally don't care for IOL picks in the first round, but I like this kid.  Makes it even better when you can tell a guy is genuinely happy to be here and excited about the opportunity.  Hopefully he's a stud and helps JJ McCarthy realize his potential. Feels like we have something special brewing here...

Glad for the kid and his family is certainly enjoying the journey too...

Top notch org, culture and facilities...Just need a trophy next.

StickierBuns wrote:
https://x.com/Vikings/status/1920112633115545725

Love guys that want to put in work. You can tell that he will do everything week in and week out to get better and play the best he can.