There’s a New Trend for the Vikings in Round 1 of the Draft
Josh Frey
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On Tuesday morning, NFL Network‘s Daniel Jeremiah dropped his latest 2023 NFL mock draft, and it sent shockwaves throughout Minnesota Vikings fandom as the draft analyst gave the Vikings a first-round quarterback in Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker.
However, about 24 hours later, it seems the we have a new trend for the Vikings in the first round of the 2023 Draft. We now have another very notable example of the Vikings taking this QB in the first round of the draft. On Wednesday morning, CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso also dropped a mock draft that had Minnesota taking the 25-year-old with their first-round pick.
Hooker had a very strong final two collegiate seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers, and he seemed to be on track to win the Heisman before tearing his ACL in November. That injury virtually ended those hopes as well as Tennessee’s hopes of making the College Football Playoff. Here is what Trapasso had to say of the selection:
“The Vikings have other needs, but instead of hoping to bottom out or attempt to a glut of extra picks to move up in next year’s draft to pick a quarterback, they pick Hooker and get him with the fifth-year option.“
There is some intriguing rationale here. There seems to be a number of folks who would be fine with taking Hooker, but they’re hoping that he would fall to the third round. However, if he had never gotten hurt, we’d probably be talking about him as a consensus top-50 pick.
By taking him in the first round and letting him sit behind Cousins for a year, Minnesota gets to use the fifth-year option on him, and they will be long past his injury by the time he gets on the field.
However, Hooker isn’t the only trendy option at QB for the Vikings. The Athletic also posted a mock draft composed by their group of beat writers. In that collective mock, the group had the Vikings trade up to No. 7 in order to select a QB. That quarterback was Kentucky product, Will Levis.
Alec Lewis, who covers the Vikings for the company, did the write-up for this trade and selection. His reasoning behind the pick will intrigue you:
“The Vikings’ future at quarterback is in question. Kirk Cousins remains under contract through 2023. The team has yet to extend him. Until they do, thinking about the team’s next thrower of the football is worthwhile. Though it may be tempting to save key 2024 draft capital, especially with the potential QBs in next year’s NFL Draft, the Vikings could benefit from adding a QB now. A season to learn head coach Kevin O’Connell’s system would be a boon. So would the opportunity to sit behind Cousins.”
It is certainly worth noting that there will be plenty of QBs to choose from in the 2024 Draft. Caleb Williams and Drake Maye look like the cream of the crop for next spring’s class right now, but we could certainly see five QBs go in the first round in 2024 as well.
This could make it tempting to wait until then to take a quarterback, but in that scenario, the draft pick likely won’t have a year to sit and learn behind a veteran starter. Trading up to take a player like Levis could be risky right now, but it may be even riskier to wait until next spring and immediately thrust a rookie quarterback into the starting lineup.
We still have about a month to go before the draft begins on April 27th, but this new trend of Minnesota taking a QB in the first round is one to keep an eye on as the weekend gets closer.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.