Vikings' Draft Moves: Hidden Gems and Bold Surprises That Could Change the Game

Based on this metric, the Vikings were the worst drafting team in the league during Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s tenure as GM. The fact that the Vikings had a particularly bad draft in 2022, the earliest year of this measure and therefore the draft expected to accumulate the most AVoe points, accentuates the Vikings poor results. The Vikings also aren’t credited for All-Pro Will Reichard, as a special teamer, either but this is ancillary to the results. The fact that two defensive players- Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth- were both high defensive picks in 2022 that provided next to no AV for the Vikings is a big reason why the average defensive pick looks worse. And J.J. McCarthy, as a quarterback picked 10th overall, would have a high AV expectation based both on position and how high he was picked. The fact that he’s earned just 4 AV points to date therefore more than offsets the 20 AV points Jordan Addison has earned his he was drafted. For comparison, quarterback Bo Nix, who was drafted two spots after McCarthy, has earned 26 AV points so far.

The only full-time starters among the Vikings’ draft picks over these four drafts have been Jordan Addison and Donovan Jackson last year. Dallas Turner seems likely to become one in the future, which along with Jackson should make these last two drafts look better in the future, but nevertheless the Vikings not done a good job under Adofo-Mensah in drafting and developing young, inexpensive talent. And that is key to long-term success as a franchise.

Free Agency Has Helped- But It’s Difficult to Build Rosters That Way

The Vikings have been able to mitigate their drafting woes in recent years with success in free agency- including college free agents. Signing Andrew Van Ginkel, Jonathan Greenard, and Blake Cashman two years ago on reasonable deals really helped jump-start the defense. Jalen Redmond has emerged now too. And certainly signing Sam Darnold for $10 million mitigated J.J. McCarthy’s rookie year and Kyler Murray for $1.3 million may do the same this season. Other signings like Isaiah Rodgers, Jordan Mason, Eric Wilson, and Tavierre Thomas on mid/low market deals help too. And hitting on some UDFA contributors like Ivan Pace Jr. and Bo Richter help round out the roster with contributors on minimum contracts.