Recent Vikings’ Mock Draft Is a Bit of an Overkill
The Minnesota Vikings started into their 2024 season with an outstanding 14-2 record but then dropped the next two, ending the season after only one postseason contest. Those two defeats handed to them by the Lions and Rams revealed the team’s weaknesses.
Recent Vikings’ Mock Draft Is a Bit of an Overkill
One of those was Sam Darnold, who was suddenly seeing ghosts again after a Pro Bowl season. The offensive and defensive lines needed some upgrades, too. And, well, the running game that hasn’t been good since Kevin O’Connell was named head coach in 2022 didn’t provide much help.
The good news is that the Vikings have made changes in all of those areas. In the backfield, the team re-signed Aaron Jones and paired him with a new wingman by trading for Jordan Mason.
Most people think those moves have taken the Vikings out of the draft race for the running backs in this year’s class. But The 33rd Team’s Ian Valentino isn’t convinced. In his latest mock draft, Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah adds North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton regardless.
He wrote, “The 2025 running back class is exceptionally talented, making it significant that Omarion Hampton has distinguished himself as the RB2 behind Ashton Jeanty. No other running back can compare to Hampton’s unique combination of size (5-foot-11, 221 pounds), speed, explosiveness, and impressive performance on the field. He plays with a powerful, freight-train-like style.”
Jones is coming off a Pro Bowl-caliber season and signed a lucrative two-year deal. Mason is also under contract through the 2026 season, and it’s hard to feature three running backs, although Adofo-Mensah recently indicated that they want the team to be able to run more.
“Like I said, we want to be able to win any game and so if we’ve got to run it 40 times, we want to run in 40 times with those two guys, and so we’re just really excited about the pairing,” Adofo-Mensah said last week.
Hampton is viewed as the second-best running back in a highly-touted running back class, behind only Ashton Jeanty. In the last two seasons at UNC, Hampton rushed for 3,164 yards and 30 touchdowns while simultaneously adding 595 receiving yards and three more touchdowns.
PurplePTSD’s Brevan Bane wrote in January, “Hampton could fit into KOC’s offense beautifully as a bruising rusher with upside in the passing game.”
The Vikings don’t need another top-level running back. However, they have set up the roster in a way that allows them to draft the best player on the board, regardless of the position, and if they feel like Hampton could be a future Pro Bowl running back throughout the 2020s and even early next decade, pulling the trigger could still make sense.
No offensive play-caller has ever complained about having too many running backs, and providing first-time starter J.J. McCarthy with as much help as possible is a good idea. He operated a run-heavy offense in college, and the Vikings could build one of those.
Hampton isn’t the logical pick – those are reserved for some defensive backs, guards, or defensive tackles – but he would surely be a fun choice.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt