Post-Free Agency Vikings Mock Draft: Minnesota Doesn’t Take an Early CB
Josh Frey
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We are mere weeks away from the 2022 NFL Draft, and as free agency news has begun to slow down over the past few days, this seems to be a perfect time to put out another seven-round Minnesota Vikings mock draft. As always, this mock took place on NFLMockDraftDatabase.com. Head over there to do a Vikings mock draft of your own. This particular mock goes a little bit differently than what may be expected in the actual draft as you may have guessed from the title, with multiple trades taking place. Here’s the full list of prospects that we acquired:
- R1 P24: IOL Tyler Linderbaum*
- R2 P46: S Jalen Pitre
- R2 P56: LB Leo Chenal*
- R3 P77: CB Coby Bryant
- R3 P87: EDGE Sam Williams*
- R5 P156: TE Cade Otton
- R5 P167: RB Pierre Strong Jr.*
- R6 P184: WR Charleston Rambo
*: Acquired via trade
Upon first glance, this may seem like an underwhelming list of prospects, given the Vikings needs. Hopefully though, my rationale for each pick can win you over. Let’s go through this draft, day-by-day.
Day One
Before diving into the actual pick, we need to go over the trade that ended up giving the Vikings the 24th overall pick rather than the 12th. Almost immediately, this mock draft got off to a rough start as Ahmad Gardner went off the board at No. 4 overall and Derek Stingley followed at No. 8. With each of the top two CB prospects off the board so early, it seemed appropriate to trade down to acquire more picks and maximize value. The Dallas Cowboys were the team willing to strick a deal, and here’s how it went down:
Dallas receives:
- No. 12 overall
Minnesota receives:
- No. 24 overall
- No. 56 overall
- No. 167 overall
- 2023 third-rounder
Staying in the first-round while also acquiring an additional day two pick to play with was very enticing, and another future pick was just the cherry on top. As for the actual pick, Tyler Linderbaum has been my darling prospect throughout this process. Some Vikings fans may be having Garrett Bradbury PTSD with this choice, and hindsight may be 20/20, but Bradbury’s NFL struggles should have been quite predictable.
With his size, he struggled to generate enough power to pull opposing defenders. Linderbaum may be another smaller center, but he has not displayed any such weakness while playing in the Big Ten conference. If the Vikings can’t get top CB, this is still my favorite choice to solidify the interior o-line.
Day Two
This was by far the busiest day for the Vikings in this mock draft, and it hopefully will be in the actual draft as well. It’s long been reported that this draft does not have a ton of top talent, but the depth down to picks 60-70 is as talented as we’ve seen in recent history. With that in mind, it was imperative for me to make another trade in order to maximize this day. This time, the Arizona Cardinals were the suitors. Here is how this one went down:
Arizona receives:
- No. 191 overall
- No. 192 overall
- No. 250 overall
- 2023 third-rounder (from DAL)
Minnesota receives:
- No. 87 overall
With this trade, the Vikings essentially got another top-100 pick just for some late-round flyer selections. This feels like a huge win in a draft this deep, and Minnesota ultimately takes an EDGE with high upside in Sam Williams.
The pick that may seem confusing here is safety Jalen Pitre in the second round. However, he is another one of those players that could play all over the field if he needs to. He can step down into the box or even play a little nickel CB if needed. Additionally, it may be worth reminding that Camryn Bynum played four years of collegiate cornerback for California. After an impressive couple games in 2021, perhaps he could be viewed as the answer for the Vikings other corner. That opens up a safety spot that can be filled by the hard-hitting Pitre.
Then the Vikings also get a couple under-the-radar prospects in LB Leo Chenal and CB Coby Bryant. Particularly in Bryant, the Cincinnati Bearcat seems to be getting overlooked because of the rise of Ahmad Gardner, but Cincy’s defense was not elite solely because of one corner. Bryant has his own skillset and possesses the size to be an outside corner in the NFL. With the hype going to Devin Lloyd and Nakobe Dean at LB, Chenal is also being overlooked by many and could blossom into an NFL MIKE role in the future. With Eric Kendricks getting older, this could be the transitional piece that Minnesota needs.
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Day Three
On the third day of the draft, I opted to go in with an approach of finding some offensive players that could develop into depth roles for the Vikings. The tight end class in particular is not one that has a ton of talent like we have seen in recent years, but there are more solid options that should fall into the later rounds.
The Vikings get one of those with the selection of Cade Otton out of Washington in the fifth round. Minnesota finds themselves in a situation where they lack depth at the TE position behind Irv Smith, and another player to take some pressure off Smith as he returns from injury could be helpful. Then, Pierre Strong Jr. enters a crowded RB room in 2022, but that could change moving forward as Dalvin Cook gets more expensive and Alexander Mattison enters free agency next offseason.
Finally, Charleston Rambo is another player that could enter into an Ihmir Smith-Marsette-esque role in terms of his special teams ability. He may even be a more immediate impact on the offense as well with his route tree being far more developed during his collegiate career. Overall, there is a high chance that none of these players have a huge impact in 2022, but all of them play at positions that could be needs in the near future.
Final Grade
This draft gets an immediate demerit due to the fact that Minnesota was unable to get a lockdown corner in the first round of this draft. However, there is reason to believe that the secondary improves with Pitre and Bryant entering the fold. Linderbaum at center should be an immediate solution to the Vikings interior o-line struggles as well. Minnesota gets promising prospects at all three levels of the defense as well, and that should provide some great depth if anyone misses time with injury. I like the potential and variety that this class brings, so ultimately I’ll give it a B+. If Minnesota ended up taking many of these prospects, fans should be optimistic.
