Mock draft season is upon us and that means our mock draft roundup is back!
What we do every week is track the mainstream outlets mock drafts and aggregate how many times a player gets selected. Last season, we tallied up 545 mock drafts and that included a whopping 54 different players. With the Minnesota Vikings set to pick 11th overall, there will be a lot of discussions surrounding the quarterbacks in this draft along with trading up.
We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Vikings.
UCLA EDGE Laiatu Latu
Who:
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler
Bears Wire’s Alyssa Barbieri
Sports Illustrated’s Patrick Chiotti
Over his two seasons at UCLA, Latu accounted for 34 tackles for loss, 23.5 sacks and five forced fumbles. He has first-step quickness and bend, but his crafty handwork and ability to diversify his attack separate him as a pass rusher. His injury history could be an issue, but this Vikings regime has taken chances with those risks in the past.-Brugler
Alabama CB Terrion Arnold
Who:
Pro Football Network’s Wil Helms
This is the third mock I’ve done for Minnesota and the third different DB I’ve given them. Terrion Arnold has the arms, hips, and frame to be elite in man coverage and is a guy that the Vikings can leave on an island. Minnesota loves to blitz, so that’s an important part of the defense.
Arnold has grown tremendously in college and will likely get better as he gets older.-Helms
Florida State EDGE Jared Verse
Who:
Draft Wire’s Brennan Rupp
College Wire’s Staff
CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards
The Draft Network’s Brentley Weissman
My guess is Kirk Cousins will be back on a one-year deal for the Vikings. With Captain Kirk back, the Vikings take the best defensive player on the board.-Rupp
Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.
Who:
The Draft Network’s Ryan Fowler
The Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer
Michael Penix Jr.’s eval remains iffy for me, but I love this spot if it were to come to fruition. Similar to his time at Washington with Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan, and Ja’Lynn Polk on the outside, targeting the trio of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and T.J. Hockenson presents a floor for immediate success. Improvement is needed in his mechanics (engaging core and lower half) and comfortability amongst chaos, but his fundamental arm talent is sensational and he is the class’ top vertical passer available, showcasing excellent layering ability and the knack for changing speeds to attack different windows.-Fowler
Illinois DT Jer'Zhan Newton
Tyler’s Scouting Report
Who:
The 33rd Team’s Connor Livesay
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy
Seahawks Wire’s Tim Weaver
Pro Football Network’s Ian Cummings
Despite his lack of size, Jer’Zhan Newton is one of the most disruptive interior defensive linemen in the draft. His quickness, relentlessness and productivity as a pass rusher will be heavily coveted.
Pairing Newton with Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings’ defense is a match made in heaven.
Iowa CB Cooper DeJean
Who:
Teams felt pretty comfortable attacking the Vikings through the air this year, and although neither of the Vikings’ two starting corners, Byron Murphy and Akayleb Evans, are liabilities, it’s possible neither develops into a No. 1 option, either. Meanwhile, 2022 second-rounder Andrew Booth barely played this season. Cooper DeJean has a great set of tools and has been highly consistent over the past two seasons.-Jones
Alabama EDGE Dallas Turner
Who:
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso
Fantasy Pros’ Russell Brown
Sports Illustrated’s Luke Easterling
The Vikings replenish the edge-rusher group given the uncertainty of Danielle Hunter’s future.-Trapasso
Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry
Who:
Fantasy Pros’ Staff
Pro Football Network’s Joe Broback
Minnesota picked things up on defense towards the end of 2023, but that by no means signals they are fixed on that side of the ball. Kool-Aid McKinstry gives them not only an instant fan favorite name but a top-end corner prospect who played against NFL prospects his entire career.-Garrett Ball
Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy
Who:
Pro Football Network’s Dalton Miller
Is J.J. McCarthy ready for the big stage in 2024? No he is not. Could he be ready to start in 2025 after sitting behind Kirk Cousins returning on a one or two-year deal? Maybe. Could he be ready after two seasons like Jordan Love? He certainly could.
Young passers aren’t often afforded the opportunity to grow in the shadows like a mushroom. However, we’ve seen it work quite a few times at this point.-Miller
Penn State OT Olu Fashanu
Who:
This is somewhat of a nightmare scenario for the Minnesota Vikings. Four of the top quarterbacks have been taken in the top 10, leaving them without the option to get a first-round QB in-house to serve as the heir apparent to Kirk Cousins — whether that’s immediately or after another year or two.
Additionally, Brock Bowers is also off the board, eliminating the possibility of Minnesota bringing in the talented tight end to serve as an insurance plan against T.J. Hockenson not being ready to go to start the season. While many mock drafters have the Vikings going with strengthening the defense in this scenario, I’m taking things in a different direction.
The Vikings offensive line was the subject of a lot of criticism throughout the 2023 season. Some of it justified, some of it not. The group as a collective didn’t play as poorly as some may think, but there is a lot of room for improvement in both pass protection and run blocking. Both of those can be improved immediately by taking Penn State offensive lineman Olumuyiwa Fashanu.
Had Fashanu come out last season, he likely would have been the first offensive lineman off the board. Now, he serves as the third, and yet he still might be the best of the entire group. Minnesota could do a lot worse making the best of a bad situation here.-Spooner
Texas DT Byron Murphy II
Who:
I believe Murphy is the top defensive tackle in the class. The Vikings need to add more firepower up front.-Jeremiah
Overview
So far, we have collected 62 mock drafts with 15 different players having been mocked to the Vikings. This week saw 23 mock drafts for second-consecutive week.
| EDGE Laiatu Latu | 12 |
| QB Michael Penix Jr. | 9 |
| DT Jer’Zhan Newton | 8 |
| EDGE Jared Verse | 8 |
| EDGE Dallas Turner | 6 |
| QB Jayden Daniels | 4 |
| CB Kool-Aid McKinstry | 4 |
| CB Cooper DeJean | 3 |
| EDGE Chop Robinson | 1 |
| CB Nate Wiggins | 1 |
| QB Bo Nix | 1 |
| CB Terrion Arnold | 1 |
| QB J.J. McCarthy | 1 |
| OT Olu Fashanu | 1 |
| DT Byron Murphy II | 1 |
| Total | 23 |
