The Obstacle the Vikings Had No Difficulty Overcoming (But Need to Correct)
In theory, the NFL Draft should be a major resource for the Vikings. Young, cost-controlled talent can get added, grafted into the team’s roster and used to help propel them further into contention.
Across a trio of drafts, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has struggled.
Sure, the Will Reichard pick is looking like an A+ and Jalen Nailor is scoring a touchdown a game. Ed Ingram remains a starter, Ty Chandler is an explosive RB2, and Dallas Turner looks like a building block on defense. Even still, the Vikings have left a lot to desired in recent drafts. In fact, one draft class barely played a part in the Week 3 victory over the Texans.
The Vikings and The 2023 NFL Draft
Just six picks.
Adofo-Mensah stepped away from the 2023 NFL Draft as someone who used just a half dozen draft picks. He sunk an even three into the defense and offense, coming away with young players who offered varying degrees of promise and upside.
Consider the haul:
- Jordan Addison – RD1, 23rd
- Mekhi Blackmon – RD3, 102nd
- Jay Ward – RD4, 134th
- Jaquelin Roy – RD5, 141st
- Jaren Hall – RD5, 164th
- DeWayne McBride – RD7, 222nd
What do you notice about the list? For starters, the final three names — Roy, Hall, and McBride — are all cut loose. Minnesota is no longer getting any value out of the draft picks taken from RD5 onward. Now, that’s better than the Lewis Cine/Andrew Booth outcome, but it’s still discouraging.
And then there are the injuries. Corner Mekhi Blackmon is done for the year due to a torn ACL in training camp. The hope was that he could have pushed for a starting spot — the plan is for him to do so in the future — but a serious injury has undermined that possibility.
More recently, Mr. Addison went down with an ankle injury. Not as serious, no, but bad enough to eliminate him from the partway through the Week 1 game. He hasn’t been seen since. Maybe he’ll be ready in time for Week 4 at Lambeau.
The Vikings were thus left with just a single contributor in Week 3 from their 2023 draft class. Backup safety Jay Ward, 24, was the lone representative. The versatile defensive back played 19 snaps on special teams and 9 on defense. He snagged 1 tackle.
How many teams can get 28 total snaps — 19 of which coming on specials — from a draft class that’s in its sophomore season and still find success?
Making matters even worse is that the upside UDFAs from that same year were also absent. NaJee Thompson is done for the year and Andre Carter II is on the practice squad. The crown jewel, Ivan Pace Jr., missed the game, too. So, the not even the UDFAs helped.
In a perfect world, the Vikings will start drafting better in a hurry. Some of the misfortune flows from injuries, a largely uncontrollable reality of NFL football that can’t be pinned on the GM. Some of the problem, though, comes down to sinking picks into players who simply haven’t been good enough. Getting more contributions from the rookies, sophomores, and so on will be vital moving forward.
Minnesota’s next opponent is the Green Bay Packers, a team that’s sitting on a 2-1 record even though Jordan Love has been missing time. Pulling off the road win would push the Vikings up to an impressive 4-0 record.
Kickoff is taking place at 12 p.m. CT on Sunday, September 29th.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.