The 2020 NFL Draft took place on April 23rd through April 25th, 2020. This was a sporting event that has been popular in the past, but this year's draft was in a spotlight on its own. As professional sporting events have been eliminated for over a month now, many sports fans got into the NFL Draft because it was something new, something that focused on a future of a professional sport, which meant that it was planning to come back with live action sooner or later. It gave us sports fans hope.
The 2020 NFL Draft was a big one for the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota Vikings fans were nervous going into this event because it had to be done right. The fact is that Vikings were cash strapped due to many high profile and expensive players on the team, and that limited their movement in the free agency market. The questions for the Minnesota Vikings going into the draft were questions like, what were they going to do with the extra drafts picks from the Stephon Diggs trade? Would the Vikings address helping the offensive line? This, in my opinion, was their top priority. How would the Vikings address their defensive needs? The cornerback position was extremely thin after losing Cornerbacks Trae Waynes and Xavier Rhodes. Xavier Rhodes was underperforming on his lucrative contract, and with the Vikings over the salary cap, they had to cut Xavier Rhodes.
So, the Minnesota Vikings focused on needs instead of selecting the best player available in this draft. I mean, they had to anyway. The Vikings acquired an additional first round draft pick when they traded Wide Receiver Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills. The Vikings also acquired two other picks in this draft and a 2021 draft pick from the Diggs trade. The first round pick was number 22 overall, and the Vikings selected Wide Receiver Justin Jefferson from LSU. This was viewed as a quality pick for the Vikings as some mock draft boards had Justin Jefferson going higher than pick 22. The original first round draft pick the Vikings had was pick number 25 and they traded back to the 31st pick and they acquired an additional later draft pick. So, at the 31st pick, the Vikings drafted Cornerback Jeff Gladney from TCU. This again, was a pick of needs. The Vikings needed a plan to address their lack of cornerbacks, and they started to do that with this pick.
The Minnesota Vikings had one second round draft pick and that was pick number 58. At pick number 58, they drafted Offensive Tackle Ezra Cleveland. This pick also made Vikings fans happy for the most part as they drafted an offensive lineman. There were rumors in the week leading up to the NFL Draft that the Vikings were maybe going trade later round draft picks to acquire Offensive Lineman Trent Williams from the Washington Redskins. As the draft carried on, the Trent Williams deal was stalling and the Vikings could not wait any longer and they drafted Cleveland. It sounds like Cleveland could be NFL ready for this season, but the plan is to not have him start. Some critics are saying that he needs to get reps as a back up before being promoted to starter. I don't know how I feel about this as the Vikings need offensive line help now. In Round 3, the Vikings had two picks. They picked a player with the 89th pick by selecting Cornerback Cameron Dantzler from Mississippi State. Again, we talked about how the Vikings lost two veteran cornerbacks in the offseason, well actually three if you count losing Marcus Sherels as well. So again, this was the Vikings drafting a need, which is good. The Vikings traded their second third round pick for some later draft picks and some draft picks for the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Vikings had 11 picks in rounds four through seven. In the fourth round, they drafted Defensive End D.J. Wonnum of South Carolina with pick 117. They also drafted Defensive Tackle James Lynch of Baylor and Linebacker Troy Dye of Oregon with picks 130 and 132 in the fourth round. In the fifth round, the Vikings had two picks and they selected Cornerback Harrison Hand from Temple and Wide Receiver K.J. Osborn from Miami. A couple of interesting tidbits about these picks is that first, some critics believe that the Vikings got a good value at pick 169 by selecting Harrison Hand. Some experts believe that Harrison Hand is already NFL ready for this upcoming season. Another note on the Vikings selecting a Wide Receiver in the fifth round, they did this back in 2015 by selecting Stefon Diggs. I would say that fifth round wide receiver worked out pretty well. In the sixth round, the Vikings again looked at needs. They drafted Offensive Tackle Blake Brandel from Oregon State with pick number 203, Safety Josh Metellus from Michigan at pick number 205, and Defensive End Kenny Willekes from Michigan State at pick number 225. In the seventh and final round, the Vikings again had three draft picks and they selected Quarterback Nate Staley from Iowa at pick number 244, Safety Brian Cole II from Mississippi State at pick number 249, and Offensive Lineman Kyle Hinton from Division II School Washburn at pick number 253.
So, the draft was completed after seven rounds. After all the picks by all the NFL teams, many of the sportswriting experts picked the Minnesota Vikings as having the best draft of all 32 NFL teams. There were formulas put in place to determine these results. This doesn't necessarily mean a Super Bowl is coming to the Vikings. They still have to continue to improve. Several teams have dramatically upgraded this offseason. The Buffalo Bills are stacking up their team to make a run at a division title now that the New England Patriots have lost Quarterback Tom Brady to free agency and traded Tight End Rob Gronkowski. Both players went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Speaking of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, not only did they add Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, but they also drafted a pair of Minnesota Golden Gophers in Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and Wide Receiver Tyler Johnson.
Now that the 2020 NFL Draft is over, there was only one thing left to do before the focus turned onto the upcoming season and beginning workouts. That was the players that went undrafted. They are called undrafted free agents and the Minnesota Vikings signed 12 of them after the draft. They are Offensive Tackle Brady Aiello from Oregon, Tight End Jake Bargas from North Carolina, Wide Receiver Dan Chisena from Penn State, Cornerback Nevelle Clarke from Central Florida, Wide Receiver Quartney Davis from Texas A&M, Safety Myles Dorn from North Carolina, Linebacker Jordan Fehr from Appalachian State, Tight End Nakia Griffin-Stewart from Pittsburgh, Guard Tyler Higby from Michigan State, Center Jake Lacina from Augustana, Linebacker Blake Lynch from Baylor, and Defensive Tackle David Moa from Boise State. Many of these players will not end up on the team, or some of them may land on the practice squad. There are some undrafted free agents that do end up making teams and have a successful career in the NFL, just like Pro Bowl Wide Receiver Adam Thielen.
Like I said, this was real sports that was new and that drew the attention of many fans, just like the WNBA Draft did a couple of weeks ago. People are thirsty for sports, and if sports drafts are all we can have right now, then we will take it. I am glad the Minnesota Vikings picked smart in this draft. I am still concerned about their offensive line as that has been our weakness for the past three seasons. We have a lot of players on this team to win now, but winning teams have quality offensive lines. Other Vikings questions to still watch and be answered, as the season approaches, is if the team will keep and extend a contract for Safety Anthony Harris? Will the Vikings be able to bring back current free agent Everson Griffin? And how is Aaron Rodgers going to react with the neighboring Green Bay Packers drafting a quarterback in the first round of this draft? Time will tell.
I hope you enjoyed this draft report for the Minnesota Vikings. The team got better because of who they drafted.
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