The “Perfect” 2025 NFL Draft Prospect for the Vikings
The best event of the NFL calendar year (in my opinion), the NFL Draft, is just around three months away on April 24th. For the third consecutive year, the Vikings will go into the three-day extravaganza with a first-round selection in the mid-20s.
In 2023, they selected WR Jordan Addison. In 2024, they acquired the 23rd overall pick from the Houston Texans and then used it to trade up again with the Jaguars to 17th overall for the football rights to LB Dallas Turner.
As of now the Vikings will select 24th overall in the 2025 edition of the NFL Draft, a familiar position to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his front office regime. Even though they are so used to going into the draft in this position, it’s the first time the franchise has selected exactly 24th overall since the 1995 NFL Draft when they called the name of the late Korey Stringer out of Ohio State, per The Star Tribune.
So now that the 2024 season is officially over for the Vikings, it is officially mock draft season, that beautiful time of year when everyone and their mother think they know what is best for their favorite team. The major publications think the same, and PFF is just that.
Jordan Plocher and Josh Liskiewitz over at PFF released their opinions on their “perfect” prospect for every single team going into the 2025 NFL Draft. There are many needs for these Vikings, such as cornerback, defensive interior, and offensive interior. For this exercise, the boys at PFF went to the trenches on the defensive side of the ball.
They called out Ohio State defensive lineman Tyleik Williams;
The Vikings need youth and improved all-around play from the defensive interior this offseason, as the unit’s play consistently graded below average against the run in 2024, and no one in the position group achieves a pass rush win rate over 10%.
Tyleik Williams‘ lack of pass rush will likely push him down to Minnesota‘s range in the first round, but his elite play against the run would make him well worth the selection. He graded positively on an impressive 29.1% of all run plays in 2024 at Ohio State which ranked fifth among all defensive interiors in the country.
The Vikings did just re-sign surprise standout Jalen Redmond on the interior defensive line, but Jerry Tillery and Jonathan Bullard are both set to become free agents in March. This leaves the interior defensive line with Harrison Phillips, Taki Taimani, and Travis Bell rostered in 2025 as it stands at defensive tackle, and Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake Rodriguez, and Jonathan Harris rostered at defensive end.
The line could be worse, but it could also definitely be much better. Tyleik Williams would fit in at defensive tackle, potentially providing a dominant run defense force in the middle of the defensive line. The Vikings’ run defense was good last year when all was said and done, but they got exposed quite a few teams, especially against their division-rival Detroit Lions (who, to be fair, did that to everyone in the regular season).
Williams is a 3-technique defensive tackle standing at 6’3 and weighing in at right around 330lbs. As mentioned by PFF, his pass-rushing ability is a bit lacking and has plenty of room for refinement, but his high success rate against the run at Ohio State (meaning he played real competition) is nothing to scoff at and is something that the Vikings would benefit greatly from in the long-term.
His blend of size, power, and speed is enough to make a plethora of scouts around the league take second and third looks at him. Even better, he will only be turning 22 years old on February 24th.
He is very raw, showing flashes of dominance while also being prone to mistakes, but he is exactly the kind of prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft that Brian Flores could quickly mold into a dominant inside force if he’s to stay in Minnesota.
