Each year Minnesota drafts players who can fulfill spots on the team, but this year, it was different for a number of reasons.
Reason one: There were mass departures in free agency. Minnesota lost both starting cornerbacks, a starting defensive tackle and plenty of other key players. Given the Vikings’ lack of cap space, this draft became crucial for adding talent.
Reason two: The Vikings had 15 picks. The team traded wide receiver Stefon Diggs for draft picks, and the team ended up with a record-breaking total for a seven-round NFL Draft.
All that pointed to this draft being an interesting one when Vikings fans look back at the Mike Zimmer-Rick Spielman era. Vikings Wire decided to give out early rewards for this draft class, predicting how the players will do down the road.
Here they are:
Most likely to succeed: Jeff Gladney
Cornerback Jeff Gladney gets the nod for the most likely to find success in Minnesota. He beats out fellow Vikings first-round pick Justin Jefferson.
Jefferson could very well be a strong candidate to find success, but it’s not as much of a given as it is with Gladney. The cornerback enters into a system with depth at corner, and two of the best safeties in the league.
Based on draft history, the team also values the corner position quite a bit, and the Vikings have been good about finding talent at that position in the draft. It’s hard to see Gladney, a physical corner playing in a Zimmer-led defense, not have a decent 2020.
Biggest shoes to fill: Justin Jefferson
Jefferson has to try to replace at least some of the production left behind by wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Diggs was traded to the Bills for draft picks, and one of those draft picks netted a wide receiver in Jefferson. Fair or not, a lot of Vikings fans and NFL fans in general will compare Jefferson to Diggs and expect him to be an adequate wide receiver two in his rookie season. I think he has the potential to pull it off, but it’s definitely a pressure-filled situation.
Biggest steal: James Lynch
I like a lot of what the Vikings did in the NFL Draft this offseason. The team went about acquiring talent in the later rounds, players who could come in and possibly work their way up the depth chart.
One of the players who has the capability to do that is Lynch, a defensive tackle out of Baylor. Lynch would be a nice complement to Michael Pierce, who is a big-bodied, run stopping defensive tackle.
Lynch wasn’t terrible in stopping the run at Baylor by any means, but he’s more of a quick defensive tackle who can shoot the gap and bring pressure in the backfield. Lynch definitely has some competition for a starting spot on the interior of the defensive line, but we’ll see if he turns out to be a big contributor in 2020.
Most enticing: K.J. Osborn
Did the Vikings find a new return man in the later rounds of the draft? K.J. Osborn, who the Vikings picked in the fifth round, can compete for a wide receiver spot on the depth chart, but he can also fill out a big role on special teams.
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said that the Miami wideout has a legitimate chance of winning return jobs. That could make for an interesting choice in the return game next season. He had 201 kick return yards on 10 attempts in 2019. He tallied 255 yards on 16 attempts on punt returns in his final collegiate season, too. It will be interesting to see how that translates to the NFL level, if it does.
Best seventh-round choice: Nate Stanley
This is the unofficial Rick Spielman award. The Vikings are adept at finding value in the late stages of the draft, and if Nate Stanley pans out, this year will be no different.
A lot of Vikings fans wanted the team to take a potential quarterback in the earlier rounds, but I like that Minnesota did so much later. Stanley can compete for the backup spot, and if his arm strength and other physical tools lead to him becoming a capable quarterback, the Vikings got a steal.
It probably goes without saying that there’s a big chance that won’t happen, but still, sometimes the seventh-round is about taking a chance on a player, and that’s what the Vikings did with Stanley.
