Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - MINNESOTA VIKINGS DAY 3 DRAFT RECAP (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 26, 2026

Matthew Coller breaks down the Minnesota Vikings' Day 3 NFL Draft selections, including a fullback, cornerback, running back and center. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Also, check out our sponsor HIMS at https://hims.com/purpleinsider Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

everybody welcome to another episode of Purple Insider presented by fan duel matthew collar here and the nfl draft has come to an end so the viking selected four players on day three we are going to deep dive into each one of those players and also we're going to talk about the overall the total picture of the minnesota vikings draft and how you feel how you would grade it what's your final thoughts are now that you have the total picture we have a big swing first round draft pick a Jonathan grenard trade a day three where the Vikings address some needs but maybe didn't address any others and I would like to apologize for all the wide receiver talk that went on on this show because I was pretty darn convinced that they were going to draft a wide receiver at some point

and alas all the wide receivers went off the board and none of them went to the Minnesota Vikings but some players that we prepped you on did end up going to the Vikings, including a player for day three. And then it's almost like they did a draft pick just for us here at Purple Insider. So why don't we start to dive right into it with the Vikings didn't begin to select on day three until the fifth round. They sat out the fourth round. But Max Bredesen, the fullback from Michigan, was their pick. And when I say it's like they did it for me, this is the guy.

Max Bredesen, the Vikings had C.J. Ham retire. And if you missed my interview with C.J. Ham the other day, go back on the YouTube channel and check it out. It was terrific. And we even had a bit of a conversation about the current state of affairs of the fullback position. And I will admit, when the Vikings drafted one in the fifth, I did kind of furrow my brow and wonder, okay, is this really the right time to pick a fullback? But we'll see from some of the other picks that once you get to day three, once you get past the top 150, you should pick the players that you love the most that you want on your football team.

And consensus boards, which of course are very valuable and important, I don't know that they exactly cover the fullback position in the same way that, you know, they might tell us a lot about day one and day two. This is clearly a guy that the Vikings brought into their building, loved his potential fit, learned a lot about him from J.J. McCarthy, who was at his draft party and showed up on our Zoom call. Once Max popped up to talk with us, there was J.J. McCarthy. So clearly a guy that they know a lot about. And in studying Max Bredesen, and I was ready because a couple of people in the chat had said, hey, if the Vikings want to replace C.J. Ham, you got to look into this guy.

So in all of my draft prep, I actually did watch a little bit of Max Predison. And in the year that JJ came out, 2004, when Blake Corum was the running back, this guy was an absolute beast. And we saw a lot of them then. And then this year, he had his highest PFF run blocking grade 85.2 lined up all over the field. He was in line a lot. but he also lined up in the backfield quite a bit. And Michigan would utilize what they call sometimes a sniffer position

where you have the tight end lineup kind of behind a guard rather than in line. So he's sort of in the back field, but he's actually up closer to the line of scrimmage. So this is a versatile player who is a very, very strong blocker. Did not do anything with the actual football. He only had a couple of catches the entire time that. he played at Michigan, didn't carry the football, but he is here to be a fullback. And again, I totally understand it. If you were looking at the wide receivers coming off the board or you're looking at the

running backs and going, really, the Vikings are just going full ham on this draft and getting tougher and grittier and grindier, but are they forgetting about the skill positions? Well, they did not forget about the skill positions. Maybe they thought that there were other teams that would have been interested. in Bredesen because we also saw some tight ends get taken that were known as completely blocking tight ends and nothing else. So my expectation for him is that he is going to come in right away and there is no replacing what C.J. Ham's role was.

I mean, that was a role that was crafted over many years of a guy learning how to play the fullback position earlier in his career and then going to a Kubiak style offense. then changing his role when KOC got here. And CJ had a lot of great moments along the way. He scored touchdowns. He caught passes. He played every single special team. Like, that's not a guy that you can draft a rookie to replace every single thing that he does.

But it's clear that the Vikings want to have a fullback with this offense. And I remember when Alec Ingold was released by the Miami Dolphins, I wondered, are they going to pick him up? because Frank Smith, who I've talked about a lot, is now the assistant coach here, and he was in charge of a lot of the running game in Miami. So they used a fullback a lot for their outside zone system. I'm not shocked that they would want a fullback to be here in Max Bredison. And my expectation is that he will be on the field quite a bit. And in terms of run blocking, pass blocking, he is a strong physical player

he man handles smaller guys. He can handle blitzes. And I don't know if right away you are asking him to get on the field on third down and 10. And hey, you know, the whoever, Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Todd Bowles are running some crazy blitz. Max, get out there and stop it. That might be something that takes more development for him. But in terms of the toughness that he brings, the role that he played at Michigan, and the way that the NFL is going a little bit with bringing the big. dudes back, this is an offense that is going to be able to use bigger personnel.

And we saw it from Seattle last year. We saw it from the Rams last year. We've seen it from the San Francisco 49ers a lot. The universe where a team just lines up with three wide receivers all the time is pretty much gone now in the NFL because this is the wonderful ebbs and flows of football over the years where you went to a lot of lighter personnel. you had smaller linebackers and you had single high safeties and you said, all right, stop these three wide receivers.

But then a lot of teams started playing two deep safeties and they started playing nickel exclusively. So now we've seen a lot of the smart minds in the NFL say, aha, we're going to go back to the big people and we're going to run the football. We're going to run play action once you bring your guys up to the line of scrimmage or have your heavy personnel in. And that's how we're going to get you. So, Bredison plays a role in that with his draft pick where it isn't a guy that you're expecting

to someday catch 100 passes or run for a thousand yards or anything like that. But in the same way that Josh Oliver brings his physical presence, Bredison will bring his as well. And I also think that Kevin O'Connell and maybe part of this draft was inspired by this. I think he wanted to get a little more physical and a little nastier and a little bigger and a little tougher just across the board. And the Vikings bring in a fullback here in order to do that. And like I said, there's a lot of draft picks that you can look at, a lot of players that went off the board that we studied for. We talked about.

We discussed that you could have circled and gone, well, why didn't you draft that guy or why didn't you draft that guy? and I understand that because as the pick was coming up with Bredison, I was like, okay, is it going to be this, it's going to be that, there's still some wide receivers on the board and so forth. So it was a surprise that they did it this far up. But I also think when you're drafting someone in the fifth who you are going to put on the field and who can play the special teams for you, the increase in the kickoff also matters that this type of pick makes a lot of sense.

So in his conversation with us, Bredison was asked about his role in college and how he prepared for it in the different places he lined up really all over the field with Michigan. Max, with the role you played at Michigan, like what was the process from a playbook perspective of trying to, I guess, absorb what it required to play the amount of spots you did? Yeah, it was a lot of fun because, so I got to play in the same system for a long time. but like being able to like know as much of the system as possible so I can kind of be a plug and play guy. Like last year like I was always in the tight end room, but then on some days I'd go into the running back room because I had pass protection responsibilities. Or I'd line up all the way out at field one. Like I wouldn't be in the receiver room, but like I know if also let me go fast, like I'm playing a receiver position right now. So I think a lot of it was just like when you play when I was in the tight end room, you kind of have to know two positions.

at that point, try and find the third and just put the puzzle together from there. And just from a character perspective, this guy was a walk-on. He was a zero-star recruit and fought his way up to playing a big role in Michigan's offense on a national championship team. So a fighter enters the Minnesota Vikings locker room, as you would expect from the fullback position. All right. Later, the Vikings drafted with pick number 163, Charles Deming,

he goes by Chuck. And this guy, if you have a chance to go back and watch his entire Zoom call with us, a very inspirational fellow with great, great energy. And I already heard from a friend of mine, Cody Alexander, who has coached him actually in the past and was thrilled for him, said, great guy. I can't wait to see what he does. But from a skill perspective, the Vikings went very high here with a guy that,

as we've said the word production many times over the, these last couple days, a ton of production in playing the football. And then at the NFL combine, just put on a show, ran a 4-4-1, 41-inch vertical, terrific numbers across the board. And then he revealed to us that he actually did the combine with a bit of an injury, and not a serious one, but just a little bit of swelling in his knee. And he didn't perform the way that he thought he was going to. Only a 41-inch vertical, right?

He said that he was hoping to get close to the record, which is 46 inches. So this is a cornerback who is very, very, very athletic and knows how to play the football. And how much he can play right away is a little bit of a question because Demings comes from Stephen F. Austin. And he had opportunities to go to other places. In the NIL world, there were teams that were saying, hey, Charles, I come play. for us. And this is why you didn't see very many Mac or FCS players that were drafted during this entire draft because guys in his position are normally moving up. If you do well at FCS, then Ole Miss wants you or West Virginia or a number of other teams that were contacting Chuck Demings.

But he said no, that he wanted to finish what he started at Stephen F. Austin. So a different kind attitude there than what we usually see in college football. So this isn't going to be a bit of a project because he has not had the experience of playing the elite players. But at the same time, the ceiling is high for a pick like this. When you have someone who is so good at playing the football, 35 career pass breakups, nine career interceptions, and with those numbers that he put up at the combine to go along with, and we got a real sense of this.

the attitude, the intelligence that he has, and we'll give you a little splice of that because he was asked about just what type of defense he was in during college, and he gave a very detailed breakdown. Yeah, I mean, I had three different D.Cs, you know, the first D. The first D.C. I had, I was actually, at the time, I was just a scout team, you know, but I understood this game. He liked the disguise

and then post-knap, give it a whole different look, making a jump on the offense to where the QB had to read. My second year, we played a lot. Well, my second D.C., we played a lot of quarters. You know, that's what he lived upon. So, you know, and that was good for my game because now it's another tool in my toolbox. And for the past two years had the same D.C. And we did a lot of cover three-man match and a lot of press.

You know, it was a lot of our guys. Our defenders are better than your receivers. So we're going to rush and cover. You know, we're going to sit in the house, and we're going to play man behind. it. And, you know, so I have, throughout my whole career at SFA, I went through a couple different schemes, but it gave me a lot of tools in my toolbox, you know, and one thing I love, I love Pressman. You know, that's one thing I love. And for most of my time, at SFA, I was the boundary corner. You know, they believe I was the best Pressman corner we had. And so, you know, if I had to follow a guy everywhere

on the field, that was my role for the game. If I had to just be boundary corner, that was my role. If I had to be a run support, that was my role. You know, so whatever the game plan called for, whatever team that they had or any factors that contributed into them winning multiple games, you know, we just adjusted. And, you know, I pride in myself on being very adaptable. Folks, you guys know that I'm a hat guy. I've always been that way because I sunburn easily and my wife likes how it looks. But if you find yourself wearing hats these days to cover up your thinning hair or receding

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affordable care for hair loss, ED, weight loss, and more, visit hymns.com slash purple insider. That's hymns.com slash purple insider for your free online visit, hymns.com slash purple insider. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monocidal and feroesteride. Featured products include compound drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness, or quality. Prescription required. See website for details, restrictions, and important safety information. There is Charles Demings, who is delightful to listen to talk about football and his background and his attitude toward joining the Minnesota Vikings.

So when we look at the depth chart there, you would still have the starting lineup and James Pierre is going to be the depth to begin with. They did not draft a cornerback high, and Demings would be kind of next man up as of this moment and then UDFAs and whoever else they might choose to bring in. Now, my favorite pick of the day, because we talked about this quite a bit, other than the fullback, you know, shouldn't say, shouldn't say that I have a favorite when there's a fullback on the board. But Demand Claiborne was someone that came up on this show a lot throughout the draft

process. Wake Forest running back ran a 437, average 5.1 yards per carry and scored 21 touchdowns over the last two years. Cannot say that he was with the absolute best program that may have helped his yards per carry a little bit more. But right there in the Dane Brugler write up about Demand Claybourne is the name Devon A-chan. And we discussed this a lot leading up to the draft is, hey, is there any chance that the Vikings

would spin some draft picks and try to get Devon A-chan? Well, they did not do that and the dolphins didn't trade A-chan. so obviously they were telling the truth to the NFL insiders who said that they weren't going to trade HN. The Vikings tried to get the next best thing, which was a later round player and they traded up for Demand Claiborne to get him. And this is the lightning that we've been talking about. Now, I don't expect that right away, Claybourne is just going to take Jordan Mason's job or take Aaron Jones's job. But the one thing that they've really lacked, in part because they've. didn't trust Kenai Wong Wu and they didn't trust Ty Chandler.

So Damand Claybourne is going to have to earn the trust of Kevin O'Connell. But those guys didn't get on the field a whole lot. And they were the only ones with some lightning in their feet, with some actual burst, some ability to take a 10-yard run and turn it into a 60-yard run. That is not something that anybody on the current roster has, even if we agree that Jones, when he's healthy and then Jordan Mason just overall, are very good running backs, but Claiborne should have an opportunity

to get on the field right away just based on the fact that he has the 4-3-7 speed and the capability of running away for people. And I don't think that any guy who's drafted 198th is going to step right in. And hey, dude, you're a superstar right now. I mean, we did the Dwayne McBride thing

where people got excited about his highlight reel. It was pretty crazy. And then he never played it down for the Minnesota. of Vikings, but I think that Claiborne is in a little bit of a different position where he can show them right away that he at least belongs on the field on occasion to give them something different. So I asked him just about the zone system and where he thinks he fits in.

I'm curious about like how you view your playing style and how that might fit with the Minnesota Vikings. Like they have talked about wanting to run like outside zone type of stuff. So how does that fit you think with, uh, your skill set. Yeah, absolutely, man. I think, you know, being able to, you know, put my speed and my ability to make people missing space is definitely something that, you know, I see I can do at a high level. And so, you know, being able to bring that versatility, that expulsiveness, the ability to take every ball to the house anytime I touch it, also the ability to create

mismatches in the past game, you know, just give the Minnesota Vikings, you know, added piece to, you know, all the great pieces they already have in that room is something that, I'm looking forward to and I can't wait to, you know, be a part of. So Claiborne is maybe the one pick today that I think everybody could be on board with because we all agreed going into this draft that the Vikings not only just needed a running back, but also needed speed at the running back position. The other running backs that I talked about were drafted today, not in spots where the Vikings could have taken them, Jonah Coleman, Emmett Johnson, guys like that.

So if you weren't going to get the more polished running backs that were younger, get the one that might have the most upside in Claiborne. And I'm curious to just see how he transitions into the NFL. And it's no disrespect to the Wake Forest program. But I don't know if he had the same opportunity as somebody who was like a Georgia running back or an Alabama running back that had his kind of speed. And maybe some of the reason that he did not get drafted quite as high, despite a great NFL. combine and improving production from year to year. 5.1 yards per carry is nothing to sneeze at, but it's not quite on the six or seven yards per carry that you see from some of the best running backs.

But he is a little bit on the undersized side. He talked about Elvin Camara kind of being his guy that he would like to emulate. And he also does catch passes out of the backfield. And he talked about pass protection, having to do a lot of that two years ago and learning how to do it, but as we know, the NFL is not kind to running backs trying to do pass protection. So with the seventh round pick, the Vikings took Gavin Gerhard, who we did talk to, and I didn't get quite enough time to clip some of that up, but Gavin Gerhart from the Cincinnati Bearcats was their seventh round draft pick. He is a center who has a ton of experience. This is this PFF page here,

and he did not allow a single sack this year, only seven total pressures and graded very well over the last two years in terms of pass protection. But what really stood out to me about Gavin Gerhardt is that this gentleman has played 3,374 snaps in his college career. Will he compete with Blake Brandel? I don't think so because Blake Brandel has a ton of NFL experience We don't know at all whether Gavin Gerhardt can even make the team or not, but at least it gives them some immediate depth where you have Jurgens, now Gerhardt, and you've got two new offensive tackles.

They took Tiernan last night, and then you have also Ryan Van derrick, who they brought in. So the depth of the offensive line has been clearly a priority for the Minnesota Vikings, and they bring in a center who not only, graded pretty well as a pass protector, but also goes at 6 foot 4 and 310 pounds. So this is not somebody who is on the smaller side. So he will come in with a chance to compete for a depth spot. And then we'll see. I think that there were some other guys that maybe you would have preferred based on the scouting reports that we read and some of the analysis we saw at the center position earlier.

They did not have a chance to take Jake Slaughter or Logan Jones. Those guys were clearly the standout top centers in this class, according to the NFL, because those guys were second round draft picks. But, you know, Sam Hects, maybe they could have considered from Kansas State. He ended up going later, so they end up picking a center in the seventh round. And the expectation for a seventh round center is always any one on the offensive line. But center interior is develop over a couple of years and see where you're at. But I don't think that they just got somebody to truly compete with.

Blake Brandel, maybe just more of an experienced guy who could be depth right away. So the totality of the Minnesota Vikings draft, going to read it off here and then get your thoughts and reactions and responses to what happened today and for the entire draft. So Caleb Banks with the 18th overall pick, then Jake Gold Day in the second round, Dominique Orange in the third, Caleb Tiernan, the offensive lineman from Northwestern, also in the third, Jacobi Thomas Miami Safety in the third as well. In the fifth round, Max Bredesen, the fullback, Charles Demings in the fifth,

cornerback from Stephen F. Austin, DeMond Claiborne from Wake Forest, running back in the sixth, and Gavin Gerhardt from Cincinnati in the seventh. So I'll give you my take on the draft as a whole. That is a little bit of surprise for me in multiple areas. And, you know, I mentioned that I did some, so much research on the wide receivers.

I watched their highlight reels. I read their backgrounds in the beast and I was, you know, I had highlighters out and printed pages and NFL.com, you know, up on my thing clicking each guy and the combine results and everything. They didn't take one. And I am surprised by that. And maybe we'll find out that there was a different plan at wide receiver that somebody else is on their way.

In fact, they kind of have to be because, All the Vikings have at this moment is Ty Felton at that wide receiver three spot. This may mean that they have some confidence in Ty Felton, or it may mean that DeAndre Hopkins is going to be a Viking very soon. I guess we will find that out. But that to me was the biggest, other than them taking Caleb Banks where they did, the biggest surprise for the rest of the draft, even into day three, was that there wasn't a single wide receiver that was taken.

We had discussed this many times about the argument for taking, wide receivers, even in the middle rounds, even the third round, which historically has been kind of a hot spot for wide receivers. And a lot of guys have turned out to be very good. And they passed and they passed last night. And then once again today where there were opportunities to take receivers, they did not take them today. And I mean, I guess that's based on how the board fell and the opportunity.

but in terms of their need, in terms of their depth, I thought they at least needed one more guy to compete with Ty Feltin and maybe development for later. It definitely says, and look, maybe there's a different world where they would have taken this guy, have he been on the board or whatever it might be. But they are committed to Jordan Addison. That is pretty clear from the draft,

because if they weren't, then they would have made more of an effort in the second or third round, or even today to bring in someone else to maybe long-term, either short-term push Jordan Edison and then long-term potentially take over for him. They did not do that in this draft. In terms of what they got for the depth chart, Caleb Banks, Dominique Orange, Jalen Redmond, Ty Engram Dawkins, and Levi-Drake Rodriguez and Elijah Williams,

there are a lot of players who are going to be competing for defensive tackle spots. It immediately becomes an incredibly interesting position. And as much as we could go back and forth about whether Caleb Williams was the right or the wrong pick, like now the dust is settled, he's on the Vikings and his role and how they develop him will be fascinating. I think Dominic Orange should be a day one player for them. We're going to see a different phase of the Vikings defense with Dominic Orange because that's not someone that they have had other than Taki Taimani played a handful of plays, but they have really not had this role as long as Brian Flores has been there.

So how do things change around that? It will be a very interesting storyline to follow as we go through this offseason. And when it comes to the rest of day two, I was most taken aback, I think, by them drafting an offensive lineman. But that tells us that they want depth right away. they want a potential maybe replacement for Brian O'Neill or maybe there's just enough concern about Christian Derrissan, his knee and can he stay healthy for 17 games to have now two backup tackles and there's also a possibility long term of being a guard. Will Fries after this year becomes a guy that they could move on from if they want to.

And in comparison to the consensus boards, which we've talked about a lot, the Vikings did not totally dropped the bag here. They had one of the biggest reaches in the first round, but Golda, Orange, Tiernan, and those guys were kind of on the mark or a little bit above. In terms of Jacobi Thomas, that was a reach compared, but not it wasn't crazy. He was expected to go in the fourth or maybe the fifth round.

And then today, hard to compare a fullback because the, he was listed as a tight end. And then Demings was about where he was supposed to be taken. and Claiborne was ahead of, or a steal by the board, and then Gerhardt, I hadn't checked. So I think that they didn't go completely nuts in this draft, like, say, I think Jacksonville, San Francisco, there were certain teams that were way off what anybody would have expected

them to do based on the outside world. I would not say that for the Vikings. It's more that it was positionally quite a bit different. after last night saying that they would draft a fullback in the fifth round. Now, if you swapped him with Claiborne, if you told me Claiborne in the fifth and then a fullback in the sixth, I probably would have said, okay, well, that makes a lot of sense. But flipping that makes it look a little bit like, really, a fullback in the fifth round. But they clearly are very high on Max Bredeson.

And getting Demings, that is a high ceiling potential long-term starter who comes from FCS. I mean, that's a little bit high to set the bar. But in terms of his athletic ability and production, he has a chance to develop into that. So someone who does have a lot of room to grow into and then, you know, offensive line depth. So what they come up with in total is a lot more grit in the trenches, a lot more depth in the trenches, and then a little bit of sprucing in other spots. A little help after losing Jonathan Grenard, a little help in the same. secondary, but maybe not a starter right away in Jacobi Thomas and a little bit of depth at

the cornerback position, but again, not a starter right away. So how much did this change the 2006 Minnesota Vikings? I would say a bit by the draft picks, but a lot by losing Jonathan Grinard. That means that there is a ton of pressure on Dallas Turner. and Jake Olday will very likely have to play a role right away unless we think that Van Ginkle is going to play 17 games. Turner is going to play all the snaps right away. I think they could use another veteran at that position

if there's a free agent edge rusher out there who they could bring in or they're going to have to hope that Bo Richter or Chas Chambliss or whoever else it might be can develop from an undrafted position. So that leaves that edge rusher spot feeling suddenly, quite light, though Jake Golda can play off the edge, play outside linebacker. They also used Eric Wilson there last year. There's mixing and matching opportunities. And Gold Day gives them a more dynamic player than Jonathan Grenard.

But of course, Grinard is one of the best in the league at what he does. So suddenly, players under pressure for the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Turner, big time. The defensive tackle room, Jalen Redmond, has proven himself. But everybody else, it is a total. wild card. I think long term, there's a chance that Banks becomes incredible. There's certainly room for Dominic Orange to improve. And then these other guys, Levi Drake Rodriguez and Ty Ingraham Dawkins and Elijah Williams, hey, it's an open competition. Somebody emerged. There's a good chance with those guys' talent that someone will. And they could have a defensive tackle room eventually

that you're looking at going, whoa, man, they got some serious talent and they got some serious versatility and they got some serious depth. But what's that going to look like for 2026 when all of those guys are still learning how to play except for Jalen Redmond, and he's only got one full season under his belt as a starter as well. I would expect that Orange is the guy who's most ready to play out of the group and out of him and Caleb Banks. And my expectation after what Brian Flores talked about with us yesterday with just, you know,

some of the beat reporters was that they have a development plan that they're not going to put Caleb Banks in positions he's not ready for so he could be more of a rotational player to start and I would expect Dominic Gorench has to be that for his entire career early downs first and second and short so there's versatility there there's a lot of talent in that room how quickly can it get up to date and as far as the secondary we went into this draft expecting that the Vikings would take a safety very high and that there would be somebody who would be just straight up starting next year. I don't know that that's going to be the case with Jacoby Thomas. He is a playmaker. He is very experienced. He was great last year with Miami and he's got some

toughness to him. But can you play right away in the NFL as a fourth round draft pick? We have not seen that very often. It's not impossible, but we haven't. So the expectation now is that Josh Mattelis will probably play a lot of deeper safety. And it'll be Jay Ward, maybe up in the box, Theo Jackson with him. And then Jacobi Thomas behind him unless there is a change, unless there's an additional player. And the cornerback room is virtually unchanged except for they got a guy in Chuck Demings who looks like he could play longer term, a big role on this team.

So after you lose, for example, Isaiah Rogers, maybe if you love where Demings is at, he could take over a starting position. But overall, how changed is it? I would say only a little on the defensive side. And on the offensive side, almost none, except for Daman Claiborne has a chance to step in right away and do something. Now, if you were trying to set an over-underline, where would you set it? Well, you wouldn't put him at rookie of the year, but you would say, can he get 400 yards?

Can he get 350 yards? It's like if you gave him 90 carries, 75 carries, and then if, you know, Miles Price, there could be a competition there for the kick returning. Price did a great job last year, but, you know, maybe Claiborne gets into that competition or is a second returner who's back there with him. They got something different and someone who might develop into a starting running back by next year. That can happen. we've seen fifth, sixth, seventh round running backs become starters in the NFL. But as far as the offense and how much it was changed right away, it's basically zero. And I like overall the Caleb Tiernan pick when you look at what the NFL.com,

Dane Brugler, the different analysts said about him. He was a top 75 player in this draft. And if his arms were three inches longer, he probably would have been a first round draft pick based on his performance or somewhere in there, based on his performance and his explosiveness and skill set, but he's not quite fitting with the perfect specs. So the Vikings get someone they could potentially develop into a starter at one of those positions. I think overall that's a good pick.

For 2007, which was a main discussion, they did not mark off the spots that I really thought they would necessarily. But if you think about looking a year in advance, which I talked about a ton going into this draft of, hey, they might draft for 2027, like just prepare yourself. So let's look a year down the road and then we'll get into your reactions and thoughts on the draft here and you can give your draft grades and so forth. But, you know, if we look a year down the road and we look at the defensive tackle room

with all the young talent, if Caleb Banks by 2027 has remained healthy and has developed and has shown flashes in his first year, that's where you would expect him to start taking a big step into Beast mode. Because like Dallas Turner, there's raw talent there that has to be refined by coaching. So my expectations for him are not DPOI or whatever, DROY, defensive rookie of the year. My expectation is 350, 400 snaps for Caleb Banks right away. Learn how to play in the NFL in your first season. That's not easy for fans.

I know sometimes, but is it better long term? Yes, it could be, depending on if he can stay healthy, if he can hit, 350, 400 snaps would be a good start for Caleb Banks. But by 2027, that's where you're hoping he's turning the corner and starting to be more than flashes, but the player that you expected. You know, somebody like Jake Golda, I think is kind of a day one type player, but he might be playing the role of Andrew Van Ginkle by 2027, if Van Ginkler, has more injuries or they decide that, you know, they don't want to give him another contract extension,

whatever it might be. He might be a huge part of this defense. I think, I think Dominic Gorge is the guy you're going to see the most in year one. Out of all of these draft picks, I could see him playing 500 snaps for this team. That might be a little healthy, 300 to 500, but I think we're going to see him a lot lining up over the center and just trying to push Garrett Bradbury back into Caleb Williams as much as he can. but Caleb Tiernan, I mean, imagine that Brian O'Neill doesn't sign an extension. You might have your right tackle there.

The safety spot, I mean, Jacoby Thomas, if he's ready, might play pretty quickly. But if one of those guys that they've been developing doesn't click, if you don't see it from Theo Jackson again this year, you don't see it from Jay Ward, then that's your guy who might be stepping in pretty fast. Bredesen is for right away and for long term as a full. back here. Charles Demings, though, the cornerback position. Both of those guys are potentially not going to be here and you need somebody who has been developing to have a chance to step in. Claiborne, I think his role could grow and then we'll see on Gavin Gerhardt, but the center position is wide open for the future. So when we go through every one of those positions outside of the fullback and the nose tackle, which again, these positions, they're never going to get

anyone excited in the draft. You are never going to get an A from the mock draft when you draft a zero-tech nose tackle and a fullback in the fifth. But in a league that is all skill and is starting to just turn a corner to go a little bit backwards toward more grindy football, it might be a good place to be. So what does that mean overall? I don't want to downgrade the draft just because it's not what I think. thought was going to happen. That would be, I think, unfair. But I also do want to look at some of the positions and wonder, was that the right allocation of the resource? And that starts with the 18th overall pick. As somebody who does the show entirely through the lens of the research and spent a lot

of time talking about how I wouldn't go with Dylan Thineman at 18 because of the research, because of what it says about free safeties and the positional value and replaceability. Caleb Williams at 18 is just going to be a challenge for me. His positional value is phenomenal, defensive tackle, and his skill set and his physical attributes are ridiculous and the ceiling is high. But there's three or four other things that are big hits to the chances that this works out the way the Vikings wanted to. The health is at the beginning of that, the lack of sacks and pressures and PFF grades that all has projected to defensive tackle success in the past.

It's hard to ignore that. And, you know, the development path I think is there for him. So that's on his side. The belief of Brian Flores is on his side. So I want to be fair and not just say, well, look, I don't like it because other guys like him haven't worked out. There's no guarantee. but I can't be as all in on the pick as I would have been if it was like Mackay Lemon because the wide receiver is so important and, you know, so hard to replace and so forth.

So I'm a little bit on the fence about the decision to go with Caleb Banks. It was something going into this draft that I was pretty not sold on that idea because of the amount of risk. and I felt like the Vikings just drafting some solid football players to build on the future with would have been their approach at 18 and when it wasn't, it's quite a surprise. And certainly you guys felt that I know in the chat on social media, everything else. And I got several very long and angry emails about the Vikings taking Caleb Banks. But as always, what I do on draft day or after draft day is wash away anything I thought pre-draft. I did this with J.J. McCarthy.

I do it with every single draft pick. You are a Minnesota Viking now, and everything I see from you now has nothing to do with what you did in college, and that's how we'll evaluate it. It's, what are you as a Viking? And when they have rookie mini-camp, it'll be a first impression,

a very small first impression, I guess, rookie minicamp. They don't even, like, run into each other by accident. But then OTAs and mini-camp, and then training camp is where the evaluation really begins, and we go from there. So I'm not going to tether myself to a Kayla Banks draft take as we go into this. But I do think that if we're grading it on the day of the draft, that that one is very

risky to me and it shapes how I feel about the entire draft. And because I don't see a ton of high end outcomes elsewhere. I see a lot of solid outcomes elsewhere. Jake Olday, I think, could be a very good player and a very valuable player. But, you know, a nose tackle. there's only so much that guy can do unless he is like one of the Vita Vez of the world or Derek Browns of the world. A backup offensive lineman will see. I like that swing, but there's not too many tackles taken in the third that end up becoming big time starters.

So I think the odds are a little bit on the lower side there. From an odds play, there's not a lot where you could say these draft picks are going to outside of Caleb Banks. if they work out, totally reshape who the Vikings are on offense or defense. And that's why it would be hard to say, oh, yeah, it's an, it's an A or even has the potential to be an A. I think it is probably along the lines of a B minus for me that I can see it. I can see the thought process. I joked in the article that I wrote breaking it down that you kind of need a telescope

and an abacus to understand this draft. Of course, you do not get a good grade and you should be knocked down. probably I have to give him a C plus because they had to trade Jonathan Grenard because they had put themselves in a position as an organization. I know C-Dafel-Mensa was leading it, but as an organization, they put themselves in a position where they had to remove Jonathan Granard from this football team, that's not good. And to do it for two third-round draft picks because everybody knew you had to do it, that's not good. So you go down to a C-plus. There's a lot of football players I like. So that's the thing is the overall team building and for 2027, there's a lot of stuff there that kind of works and fits for guys other than banks who could really change your outcome in the future.

It's hard to see that other than Jake Golda, I think, could be a very good football player and help the defense a lot in a versatile role. But a lot of the rest of the draft is, I guess, that's a role player, that's a depth player, very, very. hard to see. They drafted a lot of older guys, very hard to see big time ceilings on a lot of of these players. And there isn't, I mean, if, if Tiernan becomes a starting tackle, that's really valuable in terms of positional value. But the day three, positional value, which is okay to go day three this way, but full back, corner is a big hit, running back center, not the most on any of those players. So see, kind of C plus for me. And in terms of the actual football players, though, I like a lot of them.

I really like Max Bredesen. I think he's going to step in and he's going to be a very physical player that's going to help them on offense right away. I really liked Demand Claiborne and his potential fit with this offense with Frank Smith, you know, calling the shots maybe a little bit more at the run game. I can see it. But I kind of waver a little bit back and forth on, you know, were some of these things the best use of the assets that you had.

So that's where I land totally on the fence of I can see a lot of things. things that could work out for this. And there are some, I think, clear day two, day three smart picks. Or, you know, Dominic Orange has a really good chance to fulfill his role. But he doesn't have almost any chance to be some sort of franchise changing elite play. You kind of go back and forth with that. Like, I really like the guy and how he fits here. But you took a huge swing in the first.

And this is kind of the safe one. So a little bit back and forth. I know that I'm wavering and breaking it down, but that's kind of how I feel also. All right. Before we get to your your takes and opinions, did want to throw out a fan dual question of the day. Now that the draft is settled, who are your offensive and defensive rookie of the year projections in the NFL? That is the fan dual question of the day. Right now, the favorite offensively is Jeremiah Love at plus 290 and defensively is

David Bailey at plus 470 on Fanduels. So that, uh, I guess we will see there who becomes the rookie of the year. I mean, I think you probably go chalk there, but I wouldn't be surprised if Ruben Bain is the rookie of the year on the defensive side. He dropped because of those short arms, but I think the guy can play football. So we'll see. All right. Let me take deep breath.

I actually, I hate to report. I actually ran out of Diet Dr. Pepper. I did. I thought I had another 36er from Costco and I went down to the basement and I was like, oh, no, I drank it all. Yep. That's the draft, folks. That's the draft.

All right. Let's get into, let's get into your takes. Start with, let me sure I can get them on the screen here for you. So everybody can see them. Then we will go. Okay.

There we go. All right. P3T says, I don't think banks. is Williams, I assume you're Pat Williams. I see a three down Banks, Orange Redman, big beefy and some rush potential. Yeah,

I don't think that, I mean, anybody who's making a Williams wall comparison, I mean, that's kind of ridiculous, I think. Those guys are just not similar. Kevin Williams is one of the best penetrating defensive linemen of the last two decades. He

is very close to a Hall of Fame caliber player and was a top 10 draft pick as we Remember, in 2003, he was somebody that was lightning quick, insanely strong, got after the passer, created sacks, tons of pressures. They don't have PFF grades from 04, 05, 06, but my God, I can't imagine what they were with Kevin Williams. I don't think that they have that in any of the players that they got.

They got much more of a guy who could turn out in the best case scenario to be somebody like your Akeem Hicks, who just overpowers players in front of him, or Kenny Clark, the players that the Vikings struggled so much against. That's in a best case scenario. And Dominique Orange is much more of just a, like he's a Harrison Phillips only maybe 15 pounds heavier and a little bit shorter. He is a gap stuffer, take up to linemen, push back into the backfield. he's a guy that plays 450 snaps, gets like six pressures on the quarterback.

I mean, there's a little juice there, but he's not going to get into the backfield pressure the quarterback. But teams are not going to feel super great about handing off up the middle on first down and 10. Evan says C plus for the draft is fair. That's what I'm trying to go with. High boy time for the Fandual question of the day. Jeremiah Love and Arvel Reese. I could see that. Reese is in a good position in New York.

I think. Jeffrey says unless Claiborne gains 17 pounds by next year, he will never be a starter. He avoids contact, not an especially good receiver for a number 188 running back. I mean, it's hard to ask for Elvin Camara

or something at number 188. To your point about weight and the running back, I agree with you. There are not that many running backs who are his height weight that end up being Belcal guys. but could he turn into like a 1B type of player or even just a change up back? I mean, let's say that it's Jordan Mason and you give Mason an extension because

Mason is a very good running back and that's your thunder and lightning. I think it a best case scenario that it worked out. And he did catch a fair number of passes, but I also think that running backs catching passes is kind of bogus in the way that the league plays now. We've seen Aaron Jones do it as a bit of a throwback. But, I mean, we other than his. and like Christian McCaffrey, there might be one or two other guys, Bijan sometimes. There is just this myth about running backs playing wide receiver.

It does not really happen. Running backs just in general are not out there playing wide receiver. So it's usually screens and swings and stuff like that. I think Demand or DeMond Claiborne should be, you know, pretty good from that perspective. Dumer says C plus draft, quality role players. leading to division round playoff losses for the future. You have been very much Dumer K.O. For this draft.

But I do think that it's a fair thing to look at the draft and go, that is a lot of role players. That is a, it's a backup offensive lineman. It's a nose tackle who might play 450 snaps. It's a lightning running back in the sixth round. It's a full back. There aren't a lot of these players who you'd say, wow, if that third round wide receiver clicks,

he's going to be a star. And, you know, the bills took Skyler Bell. I thought it was a great draft pick for them. Like, don't be shocked if Skyler Bell has 75 catches or something this year. Passing up on a guy like that to take a backup offensive lineman is a 2027 move because he might end up being a starter on the Vikings in 2027. And the pick might look genius in 2027. But as of right now, it isn't somebody.

who you're saying, wow, this guy's going to jump right in and just be a star for you. So it might end up turning out really well down the road. But it isn't like a game-changing player right now. And there isn't also very many third-round tackles who become above-average starters. Most of the time, you have to draft them in the first round. So I like the player. I like his data. I like his explosiveness, the potential to play guard.

And I think offensive line depth is the most underrated thing in the NFL, because they get hurt all the time. But it's not Skyler Bell. It's not somebody who you went, okay, I can really see how this guy could impact right away and then be a long-term game-changing weapon rather than, as you said, quality role players. The Pollock, what do we do with the cap space we cleared from Grenard? And Hunter says if we get Joanne Jennings, that would be cool. So that'd be my nomination right away would be to take whatever cap space you can

cobble together. I believe it's 12 this year and 22 next year. I think that that is the number for Jonathan Grenard, 12 million right away, 22 for next year, 34 total created by trading Grenard. So right away, can you convince Joanne Jennings to come be wide receiver three? As much as I think that Ty Felton could take that big step because we've seen it happen enough times, Jennings has been an excellent wide receiver three in the NNN. NFL over multiple years with San Francisco.

So I'd like to see them take a shot at that. Or if it's one of the older guys, if it is DeAndre Hopkins, who said at the airport to TMZ, hey, I'd be willing to come be a Minnesota Viking. He was okay last year with the Baltimore Ravens. So if you want to make him wide receiver three, I've got no problem with that for a short term solution. Joanne Jennings, though, could be more of a longer term. you could sign him to a three-year, four-year contract and have your wide receiver room set going forward.

So I would prefer that they look in that direction. But it might be a little bit more sprucing than it is a big swing of any kind. It might be a little more. And they did keep the powder dry, but it might be a little more of, well, let's add this role player here, a backup edge rusher, you know, get another wide receiver. Maybe not an Albert Wilson or Tajay Sharp, but maybe a step ahead of that. Or they might be thinking there's a player out there like Joanne Jennings, who can be a big time guy for us,

that now we have the cap space to use. And then long term, it's really beneficial into next year. But I don't know that there's enough created right away where you would say, oh, well, they could just go out and make some big, giant move. Skull Shadow says, stay hard on the Vikings management. We're a long way from being a long-term functional contender. So this is, there's really been two types of tones to the reaction to the draft. And one of them has been that there is no reason to ever watch football ever again,

which is kind of where you're at. And the other has been, I can kind of see it. And those are the only two reactions that I've seen. Now, one thing I should always warn against is that we never truly know what a draft is going to be. that is one thing that I know 100% certain is we never know how a draft is going to work out. They've had ones that I thought were bad that turned out good and they've had ones that I thought were good that turned out bad. So I don't know. Like did maybe people did think the 2015 draft was going to be a complete franchise change of the day it happened.

But they also drafted Michael Pruitt ahead of Stefan Diggs in that same draft. So nobody really knows what the draft is going to be long term. but when you talk about being a long-term functional contender, I think that that is what people are really kind of feeling when they give the first reaction of like, oh, man, where is this team ever going to go? That's what you're feeling is when you start to look around, and I think this is fair.

I'm not making fun of you. I think that this is a fair place for Vikings fans to stand. Is you've all been watching long enough to have seen a similar movie. And that goes back from 2019. to 2020 and 2020. Where in 2019, they had a really, really darn good football team and a good football coach. If anyone ever says Mike Zimmer wasn't a good coach, I mean, that's just totally inaccurate. Mike Zimmer was a very good NFL coach.

There were the other things, but he was a very, very good NFL coach. And they had a very good quarterback in Kirk Cousins. And if you start to add it up 2019, 2026, you go, all right, had about the 12th best quarterback in the league check that's what they have now they have a very good NFL coach check that's what they have now they have an older roster where a lot of contracts are ready to come up check that's what they have now they do not have a ton of younger talent that's ready to be the next wave check that's what they have now and i think that what a lot of you wanted them to do in this draft was to try to find that next group that this can be your

maybe future second wide receiver who is a game changer. This can be your starting center. This can be the next great corner for the Minnesota Vikings. This can be the next great safety and you can start to see it. And with this draft, it's here's your wildly risky first round draft pick who might not actually be great for three years. And here is your nose tackle. Congrats on that.

Here's your fullback. Here's your kick returner slash number three running back. And future. Um, that's not exactly what a lot of people were looking for when you're talking about building the next foundation of the next roster. And with Kyler Murray, if he plays well and they lose in the playoffs and then you sign him, then it becomes even more 2019 to 2020 because the Vikings extended Kirk when they didn't have the roster around him to make Kirk the best version he could be.

And they missed their chance. They missed their chance to move on from Kirk at the right time. they missed their chance in 2019 to actually make it happen. And then they chased for two years, got fired, and that's how we have a new regime. So, 2024, I think a lot of you felt like was, this is on the way up. But was that actually the peak of the mountain? And then last year and will it keep sliding? Or can they find a way as a complete roster to turn it around?

And the reason I would say, hey, like, let's not go full doomer on this is two things. I mean, number one, again, we don't know how this draft's going to turn out. And I think there were a lot of good moves for 2007. It's hard to tell me that a very talented backup tackle who could end up starting or, you know, guard or center at some point, or could end up playing very quickly if there's injuries this year is a bad decision, right? It's just not as obvious of a decision of someone like a wide receiver or at a very clear position of need or a running back or, you know, whatever it might have been,

safety or corner that you could say, okay, it's obvious that that's a position of need right away. But also, the wills have proven over the years that they are willing to spend and there will be opportunities in the future to bring in free agents and things like that. Like, we can't really, when you go back two years, we can't really project two to three years into the future. So I think some of us, like, I am part of the problem with a lot of this stuff. But also I think there needs to be time of like, hold on a little bit.

Like pull the reins back. It's just day three of the draft. This is just the Denny's or whatever. You know, like we don't have to go full existential crisis when they haven't hit the field. We haven't seen anything. We don't know what Kyle or Murray's going to look like, like deep breaths a little bit. Um, there, I, I've been trying to be self-aware about how much I bring with timeline discussion and team building and everything else. And also now today admitting that that ruins the fun of a lot of stuff.

It ruins the fun of like, they got a cool running back. So I am part of that problem for sure.