Vikings Ended a Drought Older than Harrison Smith
The Minnesota Vikings have some long droughts. Not to be too negative here, but many readers probably weren’t alive when the franchise last played in a Super Bowl. But hey, there’s a reason this site is called PurplePTSD.
Vikings Ended a Drought Older than Harrison Smith
To get back to the final game of the NFL season, finding gems in the draft is vital, and in the last decade, that hasn’t happened nearly enough in the Twin Cities.
This time, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah selected his first offensive lineman in the first round of his young draft career. He chose a guard (Ed Ingram) in 2022, his first draft in charge. The since-dismissed Ingram was a second-rounder and lasted 41 mostly underwhelming starts.
He was traded in March to Houston for a late-round pick, which has since been rerouted to San Francisco for Jordan Mason.
Before him, the last second-round Vikings guard, although he played tackle in college, was Ezra Cleveland in 2020. Wyatt Davis was a 2021 third-rounder who fizzled out rather quickly.
A Drought No More
Do you recognize the pattern? The Vikings just don’t draft guards in the first round, or at least they didn’t use to. On Thursday, Donovan Jackson became the latest Viking with the 24th overall pick. And the man is a guard.
How long since the Vikings last picked a guard in the top round? It had been some time, 37 years to be exact. Speaking of PTSD: After the Vikings lost the NFC title game in the 1987 season, their big acquisition in the first round of the following draft was Arizona State’s Randall McDaniel.
Among current Vikings players, only Andrew DePaola was alive at that point. He had yet to celebrate his first birthday. Harrison Smith was born almost ten months later. Kevin O’Connell, Vikings head coach in his fourth offseason, was two years old.
McDaniel would become a franchise cornerstone for 12 years and eventually earn himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Since then, zilch in the guard department in round one. Until Thursday.
Jackson started for most of his decorated four-year college career at Ohio State as a left guard and only moved to left tackle after an injury to his teammate and fellow first-rounder, Josh Simmons.
He has the pedigree to be a long-term starter for the Vikings and will replace Blake Brandel in the starting lineup sooner rather than later. First-round guards aren’t acquired to sit on the sidelines for too long.
New Offensive Line
It has been an issue for years, but the Vikings have made huge investments all offseason. At first, Ryan Kelly arrived. He’s a four-time Pro Bowler at the tail end of his career but provides veteran leadership and still has some juice left. Six-year starter Garrett Bradbury was released.
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Kelly recruited his former teammate Will Fries in free agency. The top guy on the market signed a huge five-year contract worth $88 million. He will replace right guards Ingram and Dalton Risner, who are both off the team.
The line should look like this once Jackson officially surpasses Brandel and Christian Darrisaw returns from his injury.
- Christian Darrisaw
- Donovan Jackson
- Ryan Kelly
- Will Fries
- Brian O’Neill
The two tackles, O’Neill and Darrisaw, form one of the elite duos in the NFL.
Is Jackson Any Good?
Like always, we don’t really know if a rookie is any good until we see him do it on the football field.
However, those who evaluated him in college used primarily encouraging words to describe him.
PFF wrote about the lineman, “Jackson was the top interior offensive line recruit in the nation in 2021 and certainly didn’t disappoint during his time in Columbus. He earned three First-Team All-Big Ten selections, including in 2024 when he moved to left tackle during the team’s final nine games and performed admirably. Jackson has a high floor with an ideal guard build and enough consistency to project as an NFL starter. While he isn’t always the most dominant player on the field, his combination of footwork and technique could help just about any team looking for a starting-caliber guard.”
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference CFB helped with this article.
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