Apparently, the Vikings Had a Backup Draft Plan
Josh Frey
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The story of the Minnesota Vikings’ draft was the selection of J.J. McCarthy with the 10th overall pick.
After Kirk Cousins decided to leave for the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, Minnesota needed to plan for the present and future at the quarterback position, which ultimately led to their decision on McCarthy.
However, according to an article from ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, Minnesota “briefly” considered going in a different route in the first round.
The Vikings’ Backup Draft Plan
That route entailed selecting Dallas Turner with the first of Minnesota’s two first-round picks, thus meaning the Vikings would have waited until later to select a quarterback.
“[I]n explaining his decisions last weekend, Adofo-Mensah made two primary points. First, he said that while ‘you never want to give up future picks,’ sometimes there is a player within reach who is too much of an ‘outlier.’ Adofo-Mensah, in fact, had briefly considered taking Turner with his first pick in the round and then circling back to maneuver for a quarterback,” Seifert wrote.
Of course, the Vikings ultimately landed Turner with the 17th overall pick after a trade up with the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, particularly considering that the edge rusher very reasonably could have been a top 10 pick, there may have been some concern that he wouldn’t be available later on in the draft.
Had the Vikings decided to take Turner with the 11th overall pick, though, that would have left them wondering which QBs would be available later on in the first round. The Broncos obviously ended up selecting Bo Nix at No. 12, but according to comments from McCarthy, they very well could have taken the Michigan QB if he’d been available.
Perhaps Minnesota would have been more comfortable with this plan if the Falcons didn’t drop a bombshell on the entire league by selecting Michael Penix with the eighth overall pick. However, when that happened, it probably ended any discussion of waiting on a quarterback until later in the night.
“Doing so, [Adofo-Mensah] said, would have been ‘all just ego.’ Ultimately, the Vikings stayed disciplined enough in their quarterback search to wait for McCarthy first and then poured their leftover draft capital into acquiring Turner,” Seifert continued.
Ultimately, things ended up working out perfectly fine for the Vikings as they landed both McCarthy and Turner. This just goes to show, though, how much the draft could have changed if a few things went differently in the first round.
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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.