Should the Vikings take irresistible WR with #1 pick?
Dustin Baker
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The Minnesota Vikings will bolster their depth chart in April with the 14th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. A byproduct of an average-but-disappointing season in 2020 was a higher draft selection than usual. During the last five drafts, the Vikings have chosen in these spots: 23rd (2016), 30th (2018), 18th (2019), and two picks in 2020 (22nd and 31st).
The franchise will have its highest draft choice since 2015 when Minnesota selected cornerback Trae Waynes at the 11th spot.
That loftier-than-usual draft capital spawns more fascinating possibilities than usual as the 14th pick is more coveted than those of the last half-decade. The Vikings could trade the 14th selection in a package to obtain an even higher pick — or perhaps Deshaun Watson if that communication pipeline is unclogged. General Manager Rick Spielman might sell it downward to accrue more picks peppered throughout the draft. Or the front office can stay put – a normative function for most NFL teams.
Enter the debate of “Best Player Available” or “Fill Positional Need.” Minnesota needs attention in the trenches – offensive and defensive line – more so than any other section of the roster. There will be options galore to satisfy this positional need with names like DE Gregory Rousseau, DE Kwity Paye, or G Alijah Vera-Tucker. One of those three names should prudently be available at the 14th plank on the ladder.
But what if a firebrand wide receiver is orphaned through 13 picks? Justin Jefferson vividly displayed what a franchise-changing wideout can entail. Dare the Vikings visit the wishing well twice?
Draft Night Can Get Weird
In the vein of Verbal, Fenster, and Hockney, the Usual Suspects for this wide receiver speculation are Alabama’s DeVonta Smith and LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase. Before you close the browser in disgust that these men will not be available at No. 14 – just be reasonable.
Should Henry Ruggs III have been uprooted from the 2020 NFL Draft as the first wideout off the board? The 2020 season illustrated that approximately five other wide receivers were a wiser choice than Ruggs III. Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer will tell you all about it. It is an exercise in hilarity that WR-needy teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers passed on Justin Jefferson. Never forget – there are a lot of stupid football teams out there. The fallacies of scouting are in full demonstration on draft night.
Remember the 2019 New York Giants? The franchise coerced jaws to hit the floor when they picked Daniel Jones in the 6th spot of the 2019 NFL Draft. In retrospect, Jones is not a total bust, but he does spend ample time doing buffoonish things such as fumbling or falling down unprovoked.
Don’t pretend like the draft needs to be apocalyptic for Smith or Chase to fall to No. 14.
Pros and Cons of Passing on Chase or Smith
The Vikings do not need a high-octane wide receiver.
Aside from maybe the running back portion of the depth chart, wide receiver is the least of their concerns. For once though, a borderline-potent WR3 would be pleasing to the eye. A wide receiver addition somewhere in the draft is not silly.
The anti-WR case for the Vikings in the 1st Round is borne from need. Minnesota has craters to re-pack on the defensive line, offensive line, safety, and maybe linebacker areas. If they draft Smith or Chase in the 1st Round, they will emulate the 2020 Dallas Cowboys. That team featured Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, and CeeDee Lamb at wide receiver. Minnesota, with the selection of Smith or Chase, would be immediately analogous to that level of pass-catching talent – which is not necessarily a bad thing.
The pro-WR (Smith and Chase specifically) stance is straightforward. Will any coach, general manager, or fan ever look back angrily at their team for selecting a larger-than-life playmaker? Probably not.
Great players outlive depth chart juxtapositions. If a Thielen-and-Jefferson twosome is already “too much” talent — tough cookies. One might get injured, one might skip practice and tweet mysterious emojis, or one could be traded (probably the older of the two existing Vikings WRs).
A Bittersweet Reality Would Ensue
Now – the saddening part. A selection of Smith or Chase renders Adam Thielen expendable. His contract is large enough (deservedly so) to merit trade explorations. Should the efficacy of a trade-Thielen strategy be decried, take a peek back at the Diggs trade of 2020. How did that work out? Superbly. Money was freed from the cap to address roster issues.
The Vikings pressed the reset button on the WR1 position with the Diggs trade, rewarding themselves with a cheaper commodity – for five years – with the same magnitude of production. Diggs was credited ad nauseam for his first-year accomplishments in Buffalo, but his services are substantially more expensive than Justin Jefferson’s. And those services will out-price Jefferson’s through 2024.
Trading Adam Thielen would be hellishly heartbreaking for many. But regardless of emotion, his job would become quite disposable with the addition of another rookie wide receiver – particular in a run-first offensive system.
After that, the Vikings just wait and hope that Smith or Chase live up to the hype.