Man! 3 wks till draft...

The Vikings finished 9-8, a half-game out of the NFC playoffs.

They will pick No. 18 in the 2026 draft, the lowest spot of any non-playoff team.

Can't have a more no-mans-land season than that.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) January 5, 2026

purplefaithful wrote:
https://x.com/SeifertESPN/status/2007981793199444362?s=20

One KO coverage away from a playoff spot. With the most anemic passing offense since 1971.

JustInTime wrote:

One KO coverage away from a playoff spot. With the most anemic passing offense since 1971.

56 yards that will live in infamy...

I'm not sure I would have wanted to go into post season with Brosmer tbh. I'm still in disbelief they won that white out game.

And McCarthy had to tap-out vs GB, so who knows if he would have even been available the next week?

purplefaithful wrote:
I dont get the take that S is not a premium position?

I mean look what a young Harry meant to this D over the years

That said, I'll have to give Supa a gold star if they go WR in Rd1. It's not out of the realm of possibility at this point and I thought it crazy at first. Especially if they cant get a decent trade down offer.

Its just not considered an elite defensive position and the league is littered with safeties who were drafted in the first round who didnt receive second contracts from the teams that drafted them. Owners dont typically want to spend big money retaining safeties because its not considered a "must have" position. You win games defensively up front, with pass rushers, and with sticky cover corners. More times than not you can find safeties in the later rounds or in free agency without popping a 1st round pick on one. The Harrison Smith's of the world are as rare as rare can possibly get. However, with this not considered an elite or deep draft (and if Smith isn't coming back)...if they want to jump on a safety early this year my angst would be much less.

supafreak84 wrote:

Its just not considered an elite defensive position and the league is littered with safeties who were drafted in the first round who didnt receive second contracts from the teams that drafted them. Owners dont typically want to spend big money retaining safeties because its not considered a "must have" position. You win games defensively up front, with pass rushers, and with sticky cover corners. More times than not you can find safeties in the later rounds or in free agency without popping a 1st round pick on one. The Harrison Smith's of the world are as rare as rare can possibly get. However, with this not considered an elite or deep draft (and if Smith isn't coming back)...if they want to jump on a safety early this year my angst would be much less.

Disagree,   there are very few positions that can affect an offense more than a good S.  You can line them up anywhere and they will be contributing.  A good S tilts the table.   Not many good ones out there is why the position isn't viewed as critical to defensive success. 

Like the TE on offense,  they can be used in so many ways, but yet people discount them as early picks.

JimmyinSD wrote:

Disagree,   there are very few positions that can affect an offense more than a good S.  You can line them up anywhere and they will be contributing.  A good S tilts the table.   Not many good ones out there is why the position isn't viewed as critical to defensive success. 

Like the TE on offense,  they can be used in so many ways, but yet people discount them as early picks.

I really like McNeil-Warren and AJ Haulcy a lot this year.

JimmyinSD wrote:

Disagree,   there are very few positions that can affect an offense more than a good S.  You can line them up anywhere and they will be contributing.  A good S tilts the table.   Not many good ones out there is why the position isn't viewed as critical to defensive success. 

Like the TE on offense,  they can be used in so many ways, but yet people discount them as early picks.

I'll strongly disagree that elite safety play is as paramount to defensive success as a trenches player, pass rusher, or corner. I just think you can find safeties anywhere and thats evidenced by good safeties being available in free agency every year due to teams not wanting to pay them BECAUSE they can find safeties anywhere. You can convert corners to safety. It's why I always say, unless I'm getting a Sean Taylor type talent at the position, I'd be hard pressed to use a 1st round pick on a safety

The Minnesota Vikings will spend the next few weeks putting the finishing touches on their internal NFL Draft board.

Their goal? To be objective. They are committed to not pushing players up the board because of the position they play or the school they attended. Because the Vikings have plenty of positional needs, they should be able to take a “best available” approach.

Which players are good fits? How could they approach each of the three days of the draft? Here is our second big board of the draft season (here was the first), featuring 40 prospects:

Day 1 prospects

This is a fun place to start. At the NFL league meetings in Arizona, both Vikings owner Mark Wilf and interim general manager Rob Brzezinski discussed drafting the best available player. This keeps most positions in play.

Is Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love likely to fall out of the top 10? No. Ohio State safety Caleb Downs might be more likely to slide. Still, it’s difficult to think that teams with sharp defensive coordinators like the Dallas Cowboys (led by newly-hired Christian Parker) would pass on such an intelligent prospect.

If Love and Downs are both off the board for the Vikings at No. 18, all options are on the table, including trying to trade back. However, it’s fair to wonder how many teams picking in the 20s or later would part with multiple picks to move up. If they opt to stick and pick, the Vikings will be sifting through a bevy of intriguing possibilities, most of whom have flaws.

Auburn defensive tackle Keldric Faulk? His 6-foot-6, 276-pound frame is unique. His college production wavered. Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy? He missed the 2025 season with a torn ACL. Some NFL scouts think Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell is promising, but going after him at No. 18 is a tad too early. The same goes for Georgia defensive tackle Christen Miller, one of the few bigger-bodied defenders with untapped pass-rush potential.

Maybe the most fascinating selections here would be Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, Georgia tackle Monroe Freeling or the often-mocked safeties, Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman and Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. Sadiq seems like a bit of a luxury. That said, Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson is entering the final year of his contract, and Sadiq’s versatile skill set presents enticing offensive ideas. Minnesota doesn’t necessarily need a tackle, but Freeling is a developmental player with a sky-high ceiling. Will he be available at No. 18?

Thieneman and McNeil-Warren are completely different. Thieneman is smaller. McNeil-Warren might be more of a fluid mover, but Thieneman’s consistency in the Big Ten is more impressive on the surface than McNeil-Warren’s time at Toledo. Neither is a no-brainer, and the Vikings aren’t guaranteed to take a safety simply because it’s an obvious need, which only adds to the complexity of their first-round decisions.

Day 2 prospects

Why such a long list? The Vikings will be as active as they’ve been in years on Day 2 of this draft.

They are picking at Nos. 49, 82 and 97. A trade or two could shuffle those spots, and this makes sense because this period of the 2026 draft is where teams can find the most bang for their buck.

One position feels like a guarantee: center. Florida’s Jake Slaughter, Texas A&M’s Trey Zuhn III, Iowa’s Logan Jones and Kansas State’s Sam Hecht are all potential starters with various traits. Slaughter is known for his smarts. Jones’ exposure to a zone-based run scheme comes with relevant crossover. Hecht starred at the Senior Bowl, and Zuhn was mostly a college tackle but has the movement ability and mental makeup to transition to center.

Auburn center Connor Lew is another possibility. He’s on the Day 3 list (below) because he’s recovering from a torn ACL. These five names (and others like Kentucky’s Jager Burton) speak to the Vikings’ flexibility in finding center depth.

Minnesota shouldn’t be pigeonholed in how it can use its Day 2 picks. Receivers like Germie Bernard and Antonio Williams have the route-running talent and zone awareness to add depth behind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. A.J. Haulcy, Keith Abney II, Treydan Stukes and Chandler Rivers are all defensive backs of varying sizes and strengths, most of whom fit defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ system. Max Klare, Oscar Delp and Sam Roush are tight ends with receiving upside.

And then there are small-school gems like Georgia State receiver Ted Hurst and Southeastern Louisiana defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor. The former is an explosive downfield weapon. The latter might have as much quickness at the snap as any interior defender in the later rounds besides Oklahoma’s Gracen Halton.

Day 3 prospects

Lew and Michigan edge rusher Jaishawn Barham might be long gone by the fourth round. Adding them to this table was a way to slide them onto the big board. The Vikings have five picks in the final four rounds — the same number of picks they had in total last year. This presents another avenue to add further depth.

Most of the players on this table have a trait or two that the Vikings tend to covet. Cal cornerback Hezekiah Masses comes with ball skills, while Wake Forest running back Demond Claiborne has home run-hitting potential.

Texas A&M defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim is one of the more underrated defenders in the 2026 class. Indiana’s Riley Nowakowski is not a sexy prospect but a glue guy. The Vikings have picks No. 163, 196, 234, 235 and 244. The only late-round starters they’ve drafted in the last five years are kicker Will Reichard and receiver Jalen Nailor.

Wilf, Brzezinski and coach Kevin O’Connell know that has to change.

NY Times

JustInTime wrote:

One KO coverage away from a playoff spot. With the most anemic passing offense since 1971.

That has been a narrative here which I do not think is accurate.  Had we won that game, then GB would have had to win that last game against us and would have played their starters, in which case I do not think we would have been close to winning that game.

supafreak84 wrote:

I'll strongly disagree that elite safety play is as paramount to defensive success as a trenches player, pass rusher, or corner. I just think you can find safeties anywhere and thats evidenced by good safeties being available in free agency every year due to teams not wanting to pay them BECAUSE they can find safeties anywhere. You can convert corners to safety. It's why I always say, unless I'm getting a Sean Taylor type talent at the position, I'd be hard pressed to use a 1st round pick on a safety

Had Kwesi done the most commons sense approach in his first draft and taken Hamilton, he was a safety that would have come in and transformed our defense, that first draft would not have been a total disaster.  I think every position can be 1st round worthy.

supafreak84 wrote:

I'll strongly disagree that elite safety play is as paramount to defensive success as a trenches player, pass rusher, or corner. I just think you can find safeties anywhere and thats evidenced by good safeties being available in free agency every year due to teams not wanting to pay them BECAUSE they can find safeties anywhere. You can convert corners to safety. It's why I always say, unless I'm getting a Sean Taylor type talent at the position, I'd be hard pressed to use a 1st round pick on a safety

I don't think what the rest of the NFL does really applies to Flores, who intentionally differs from what the rest of the league does.

What Flores needs are different, so I think scheme fits are probably more important than necessarily how well they rank on big boards.

I do agree that the trenches in general are most important and the secondary can whither a little bit, as the goal is to have the pressure get home before the secondary has time to fail, but I think Safeties are probably the second most important position on the defense (behind the edges) as they make the coverage more confusing to the offense.

If Downs falls to within our reach, I think he's a no brainer pick.  Other than that I think there's several DTs that offer both pass rush and run defense which I think fits what we want to do a lot.

Just because we got by last year with solid CB play from a small gaggle of guys playing over their heads, I'm not sure why that would prevent us from taking a top CB in the draft if that's BPA.

Flores had Xavien Howard playing like the best CB in the league when he was HC of the fish. We've had some huge swings and misses at CB in the early rounds of the draft the past 10ish years for sure, maybe this time would be different lol.

pattersaur wrote:
Just because we got by last year with solid CB play from a small gaggle of guys playing over their heads, I'm not sure why that would prevent us from taking a top CB in the draft if that's BPA.

Flores had Xavien Howard playing like the best CB in the league when he was HC of the fish. We've had some huge swings and misses at CB in the early rounds of the draft the past 10ish years for sure, maybe this time would be different lol.

IDK, it kind of feels like every year here, he's been filling the CB room with guys from the bargain bin.  I think we're at the point where it's a trend and that's just what he does.

medaille wrote:

IDK, it kind of feels like every year here, he's been filling the CB room with guys from the bargain bin.  I think we're at the point where it's a trend and that's just what he does.

I don't disagree. The pass defense stats seem to suggest he knows what he's doing. This is why IMO it was so important to keep Flo. Without him, first thing you have to do is go get some better corners.

supafreak84 wrote:

I'll strongly disagree that elite safety play is as paramount to defensive success as a trenches player, pass rusher, or corner. I just think you can find safeties anywhere and thats evidenced by good safeties being available in free agency every year due to teams not wanting to pay them BECAUSE they can find safeties anywhere. You can convert corners to safety. It's why I always say, unless I'm getting a Sean Taylor type talent at the position, I'd be hard pressed to use a 1st round pick on a safety

you have to spend to get,  if you want a shot at the next great S,  then you likely need to go first round or very early 2nd round to get that guy,  I will take a great multi role player over guys that are locked into smaller roles due to the ability to move other pieces around as a result.  I think its pretty shortsighted to pass on a very talented player at a position of need,  simply because its easy to find average talent at that position.  I hate the idea of taking a RB in the first,  but I acknowledge that there are some that you make exceptions for,  a good/great S is certainly harder to find than a great RB or WR and provide more to a teams over all success.  WR is becoming another position that seems to be getting easier and easier to strike gold on,  dont really see that as a premium pick anymore either except for the fact that you can get them on the cheap whereas teams are overpaying for mediocracy in FA at that position now as well. 

as far as S from corners.... some,  but maybe they were miscast as Corners to begin with.  Typically corners arent nearly as willing to hit as Safeties are and less physical in getting off blocks and making tackles at the LOS,  some make the switch but most are not very good at the position.

medaille wrote:

I don't think what the rest of the NFL does really applies to Flores, who intentionally differs from what the rest of the league does.

What Flores needs are different, so I think scheme fits are probably more important than necessarily how well they rank on big boards.

I do agree that the trenches in general are most important and the secondary can whither a little bit, as the goal is to have the pressure get home before the secondary has time to fail, but I think Safeties are probably the second most important position on the defense (behind the edges) as they make the coverage more confusing to the offense.

If Downs falls to within our reach, I think he's a no brainer pick.  Other than that I think there's several DTs that offer both pass rush and run defense which I think fits what we want to do a lot.

It's definitely Flores knowing the abilities of his players and giving them some ability to see things and change things up on the fly. Is it the safety position or the blessing of having Harry at safety to coordinate the back end? I don't mind drafting a special safety high, but I'm a little concerned about Greenard. Turner shows promise in speed rushing but not so much in power rushing. He's no Greenard.

I might be mistaken about this but I could swear that in the second half of the season Flores gave Jay Ward more snaps in the slot than safety. If he continues to use Ward in the slot this season, CB becomes a Day 3 need. If Ward moves back to his safety position, CB becomes a higher priority.

hogjowlsjohnny wrote:
It's definitely Flores knowing the abilities of his players and giving them some ability to see things and change things up on the fly. Is it the safety position or the blessing of having Harry at safety to coordinate the back end? I don't mind drafting a special safety high, but I'm a little concerned about Greenard. Turner shows promise in speed rushing but not so much in power rushing. He's no Greenard.

Greenard: 6'3, 259
Turner: 6'3, 247

Micah Parsons: 6'3 250

I dont think Turner will ever sniff 260...His ideal is probably about what Parsons is at 250 (ish). My hope is experience and physical maturing keep his momentum on the upswing.

Knucklehead wrote:
I might be mistaken about this but I could swear that in the second half of the season Flores gave Jay Ward more snaps in the slot than safety. If he continues to use Ward in the slot this season, CB becomes a Day 3 need. If Ward moves back to his safety position, CB becomes a higher priority.

Ward's definitely a hybrid. Some hybrids in this draft too, with Clark and Stukes. Ward is a player not many Viking fans talk about. But even KOC mentioned they needed to get him more snaps. Then when Metellus went down, he stepped in and played well.

So we've got the Titans saying they aren't taking Love, and now this from GBN;

"Meanwhile, Cleveland has become the first team with a top ten pick in this year’s draft to let it be known that they would be willing to move down from the 6th spot for the right offer. At his owners’ meetings presser, Cleveland GM Andrew Berry acknowledged that the Browns are looking for an opportunity to move down depending on which prospects are available at that spot. And they might get some interest if a quality edge rusher like Miami’s Bain was still on the board. Meanwhile, the Browns have sort of wavered a bit between wanting either a receiver or a LT with their first pick and certainly should have several good options at both if the did move down a few spots. Stay tuned. Just 20 days to go!!"

I won't get started on Kevin OConnell and his philosophy of running the ball (or not), but if Love gets to 6, the Vikings should absolutely be working the phones

MaroonBells wrote:

I don't disagree. The pass defense stats seem to suggest he knows what he's doing. This is why IMO it was so important to keep Flo. Without him, first thing you have to do is go get some better corners.

I think high IQ is probably more important than the normal measurables at CB.  That might apply to most of the D, hence the struggles of Allen and Hargrave.  Van Ginkel is a poster child for this D.