Peter Schrager’s Final Mock Draft Has Nightmare Scenario for Vikings
Josh Frey
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Everyone is releasing their final 2023 NFL Drafts this week (including yours truly, go check that one out too!). This includes NFL Network’s Peter Schrager, one of the hosts of the hit show, Good Morning Football. However, Vikings fans will want to be very wary when reading this final mock draft from the analyst as it contains a nightmare scenario for the Vikings.
If you scroll down to the 23rd overall pick, you’ll find that Schrager has the Vikings making a surprise selection with RB Bijan Robinson out of Texas.
Now, in and of itself, this selection may not fill the biggest need for the Vikings, but it would be hard not to get excited about putting another star RB in Minnesota’s backfield and pairing that star with Justin Jefferson. Minnesota’s offense is already really good. With Robinson, they could become elite. Here is what Schrager says of the selection:
Bijan falls to Minnesota and an already-good offensive team gets the best offensive player in this draft.
Short and to the point. I couldn’t have said it better myself, Peter. However, things don’t end there for the Vikings. Instead, if we continue scrolling down to the 28th overall pick, we find that, to my horror at least, Minnesota makes a trade to get back into the first round. Schrager has them sending both the 87th and 119th picks in this year’s draft as well as a second and fourth in 2024 to the Bengals in exchange for No. 28.
With that 28th overall pick, the Vikings select QB Hendon Hooker out of Tennessee. Here is how Schrager lays out what went through his head:
The Vikings trade back into the first round — sending the Bengals a third- (No. 87 overall) and fourth-rounder (119) in this year’s draft, as well as a second- and fourth-rounder in 2024 — to land their quarterback of the future. Kirk Cousins is entering the final year of his contract, while Hooker’s still recovering from November’s torn ACL. The Tennessee product’s age (25) isn’t as big a potential concern as the college-style offense he operated in.
If I’m being completely honest, I haven’t been the biggest proponent of Hooker throughout this draft leadup. I hope the Vikings don’t select him at No. 23, but if they do, I think I could talk myself into Minnesota’s infrastructure being able to develop him with all the weapons on offense and head coach Kevin O’Connell running things.
Trading up for him as a project QB after skipping out on positions of needs at No. 23, such as cornerback or wide receiver, and giving away the remaining quality picks from this draft would be a horrible mistake, though.
The Vikings have one cornerback with more than three games of starting experience on their roster, and virtually everyone in that group has a concerning injury history. Failing to grab a CB in the top-100 amidst what is one of the deepest classes at the position we’ll ever see simply cannot happen.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. 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.