Very Soon, The Vikings’ Flexibility Will Give Way to Certainty
K. Joudry
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At various points, the Vikings’ main leaders have expressed their commitment to giving themselves flexibility in the 2024 NFL Draft.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been spearheading the approach. Snagging the Houston Texans’ 1st-round selection was a decision that he felt gave Minnesota the maximum amount of pivot points for the unpredictability of the draft. In mere days, though, that flexibility will need to get cashed in for cold, hard certainty.
The Vikings’ Flexibility Will Soon Upgrade into Certainty
On Thursday night, the NFL is going to work through the opening round of the draft.
No shortage of high-end talent is available. Part of the thinking among draft experts is that the abundance of excellence at quarterback, wide receiver, and offensive tackle is going to push the top defenders down the board. In fact, Kevin O’Connell has ventured into the theory.
Lindsey Young relayed the word from O’Connell in an earlier piece on Vikings.com: “When that first defensive player goes, when that second or third goes, I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s right around our pick at 11, and at pick 23, what does it mean if defensive players that might have been top-five picks, top-seven picks are now in the teens or 20s?”
Lurking behind O’Connell’s words is the idea of value.
Adofo-Mensah, a former investor, understands the importance of the concept. Basically, the Vikings want to ensure they’re getting maximum benefit within their various decisions. So, snagging an elite defender at No. 11 would represent tremendous value since that player would normally get scooped up within the opening five picks.
And while that possibility has its merit, the chance to get a passer is hard to pass up.
There’s a belief out there that Minnesota may need to seize the day when it comes to the game’s most important position (see Josh Frey’s argument in a recent Skol Debate). The upcoming batch of rookies looks unusually deep and the Vikings have their highest draft slot since 2015. Marry those two realities — tons of QB talent and a pretty high draft slot — by snatching a quarterback since the opportunity doesn’t come around often.
The sentiment has its appeal and yet there’s still some lingering uncertainty about how Minnesota proceeds. After all, Adofo-Mensah disagrees that the Vikings are compelled to trade up the board for a QB.
Within all of this discussion, the reality is staring directly at us: the Vikings really do have a lot of flexibility. Very soon, though, the strategy will change as Adofo-Mensah, O’Connell, and the rest of the team’s leadership need to put a decision into ink by pulling a player(s) out of the draft’s opening round.
When that happens, PurplePTSD will be there to breakdown the team fit, impact on the roster hierarchy, and outlook for the upcoming offseason. Stay tuned.
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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 and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.