The Vikings’ Draft Spot Has Locked Into Place

Well, that wasn’t how Minnesota was hoping their season would end. For the second consecutive week, Sam Darnold put up a clunker of a game, getting walloped by relentless pressure.
Minnesota now moves into offseason mode. The Vikings’ draft spot has locked into place now that they’re officially out of the playoffs. How does the team approach where they find themselves? What are the main team needs?
The Vikings’ Draft Spot
Right off the top, the draft placement: 24th.
ESPN’s Jordan Reid, a draft expert, offered the update on social media. Minnesota is coming in at a good-but-not-great placement that reflects their excellent regular season but playoff failure.

Obviously, there are a lot of excellent football players who are going to fly off the board before Minnesota gets on the clock.
Keep in mind that the 24th spot could realistically be a coveted trade-up option. If, for instance, someone is inexplicably tumbling down the board (it happens), then a team in the late 20s/early 30s (or even at the top of the 2nd Round) could make a move up the board. The GM has never been shy about pulling off trades. Moving down the board is one way of accumulating more picks.
It’s also worth remembering that recent seasons have featured the Vikings doing excellently within this range in the draft. Players like Justin Jefferson (No. 22 in 2020), Christian Darrisaw (No. 23 in 2021), and Jordan Addison (No. 23 in 2023) are now cornerstone guys for the franchise. Any chance there could be another difference-maker who arrives within that range in the draft?

The Vikings’ draft is still a long way away. Several questions need to get answered first, such as the franchise’s approach to extending their head coach, what the ultimate decision is with their QB1, and then how to navigate the various free agent options (both those internal to Minnesota and those who currently are on other teams).
Adding some help on the interior of either the o-line or the d-line would be helpful. So, too, would some help for the secondary make a lot of sense. The GM, in other words, is going to have several options available to him.
On April 24th, the 2025 NFL Draft is going to begin in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.

The Plan Has Never Changed for the Vikings
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.