Coming off a strong 2024 campaign which saw the Minnesota Vikings win 13 games despite being picked by some to finish dead last in the entire NFL, they now face the test of trying to build a Super Bowl caliber roster around a young, inexperienced quarterback.
Sam Darnold is officially a Seahawk, Daniel Jones is a Colt, and Nick Mullens left for the Jaguars. It’s officially JJ McCarthy’s team now.
So how will the Vikings build this roster? What are their biggest positions of need? Let’s take a deep dive into the Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 NFL Draft Strategy, including in-depth explanations about how they’ll approach each round and which types of players they’ll look to add.
TLDR: Quick Summary
The Vikings will be heavily incentivized to trade down with their 1st overall pick.
Any selections they make in the top 100 picks of the draft will likely address the following positions: Left guard, safety, cornerback, or defensive line.
In the later rounds they’ll take a best available strategy, but would love to find depth at the following positions: Interior offensive line, edge rusher, linebacker, or safety.
They’ve seen success with undrafted free agency recently, which will likely be a big part of their strategy this season since they enter the draft with only 4 picks in total.
Minnesota Vikings 2025 Draft Picks
The Minnesota Vikings are entering the 2025 NFL Draft with the fewest overall draft picks (4), including just two in the top 100.
They currently hold the following draft selections:
- Round 1: 24th Overall
- Round 3: 97th Overall
- Round 5: 139th Overall
- Round 6: 187th Overall
The 1st round pick is the Vikings’ original 1st round pick, which they were able to hang on to despite a big draft day trade last year to move up for Dallas Turner.
Their 3rd round pick is a compensatory pick, the top overall compensatory pick, for losing Kirk Cousins in free agency.
The 5th round pick was obtained from the Cleveland Browns as part of the Za’Darius Smith trade from a couple years ago.
The 6th round pick was obtained from the San Francisco 49ers as part of the recent trade for running back Jordan Mason.
The Vikings previously traded away their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks as part of the Dallas Turner trade, while their 6th and 7th round picks were sent to Cleveland in the Za’Darius Smith trade.
Minnesota Vikings Team Needs By Position
The Minnesota Vikings did an exceptionally good job of filling out their roster in free agency, spending more money than any other team after two weeks.
This puts them in great position to select the best player available, instead of being pigeonholed into taking one or two particular positions.
Still, there are a few positions that Minnesota would prefer to add over others.
When it comes to team needs, it’s important to break things down by why the team needs a player. Sometimes you’d gladly take a position in the first round, but if you don’t get one there you might as well not take one at all. Whether a team needs a starter or just depth is vital context.
I broke down the Vikings 2025 NFL Draft Team Needs by 4 groups:
- Positions where the Vikings need a starter
- Positions where the Vikings want an upgrade to a starter
- Positions where the Vikings need a backup
- Positions where the Vikings want a backup
Generally the top 2 categories are where teams will look in the 1st round. 1st round prospects are most likely to start right away.
By the late 3rd round, you certainly can get a starting caliber player, but you aren’t counting on it. You could look to take a player from any of the 4 categories.
By the 5th round or later, you aren’t expecting a player you draft to be ready to contribute immediately, and you’re therefore drafting strictly based on potential and a need for depth.
Here’s what the team needs for the Minnesota Vikings looks like:
Needs a Starter – Positional Needs
None.
In this category, I use a little metric I call the “will you hate yourself” metric. As a team you ask, would you hate yourself if you entered the season with this guy as your current starter.
The Vikings don’t have any starter who the team would respond “yes” about.
There are absolutely a few spots that could be upgraded, and those will be covered in the next category. But the Vikings are one of the only teams in the league with no glaring need in the starting lineup.
Wants a Starter – Positional Needs
Safety, Cornerback, Left Guard, Punter
The Minnesota Vikings Want a Starting Safety
Assuming everyone is always healthy and you don’t need depth, these would be the biggest needs for the Vikings.
Let’s start at safety, which has been the most underrated need for the Vikings since the offseason began.
Minnesota starts 3 safeties, with Josh Metellus occupying the slot defender role. This means they’ll need two more starting caliber safeties alongside him to have a complete lineup.
Right now, those two safeties are Harrison Smith and Theo Jackson.
Harrison Smith has been a legend for the Vikings and has still been playing starting caliber football. At some point however, the wheels won’t be spinning nearly as fast. Smith recently turned 36, which is about a decade older than the average age of a starting safety in the NFL.
Theo Jackson on the other hand has played very limited meaningful snaps in his career. They resigned him to a 2-year, $12 million contract this offseason which heavily indicates they expect him to be a starter, but he’s yet to prove it on the field.
Josh Metellus in the slot is a stud, but he’s also entering the final year of his deal.
As far as I see it, the Vikings have a pending free agent, a legend in the twilight hours of his career who could significantly regress this year, and an unproven player who wasn’t a heralded prospect to begin with. There’s plenty of reason for them to look to upgrade on Theo Jackson or Harrison Smith, while also getting younger at the position for the future.
The Vikings Could Still Draft a Cornerback
Minnesota’s corners were really solid last season considering they were 100% different from the year prior. In 2025 the group will be looking dramatically different once again.
They were able to resign Pro Bowler Byron Murphy, which provides great stability to the unit.
The second cornerback spot is likely to be manned by Isaiah Rodgers, a 27-year-old corner who played extensively in the Super Bowl for the reigning champs, the Philadelphia Eagles. Rodgers was signed to a 2-year, $15 million contract early in the free agency period. Rodgers is a good addition, but he’s not a high level starter. He’s undersized and doesn’t match up with many WR1’s.
Competing with Rodgers currently for the CB2 spot is Mekhi Blackmon and Jeff Okudah.
Blackmon missed all of 2024 with an injury, but showed plenty of flashes as a 3rd round rookie in 2023. Like Murphy and Rodgers, Blackmon is also undersized for a corner.
Okudah has dealt with injuries since being the 3rd overall pick several years ago, and while he still has a high ceiling, the odds of him reaching it is quite low.
After having by far the oldest cornerback room in the NFL last season (which they’ll likely be close to again this year), Minnesota could stand to add some young legs, particularly one who can compete for the CB2 spot with Rodgers.
Will the Vikings Replace Blake Brandel at Left Guard?
The Vikings have heavily invested in the offensive line, bringing in high level talent in Ryan Kelly and Will Fries to place the center and right guard spots, respectively.
Meanwhile, Darrisaw and O’Neill make up one of the better tandems of offensive tackles in the league.
That leaves the left guard spot as the sole offensive line starter who doesn’t offer above-average production.
Some Vikings fans think this position needs to be upgraded, but by all accounts Brandel was a pretty average guard last season. In fact he actually was a really solid player in the first half of the 2024 season. Brandel also offers valuable versatility, having the ability to play any o-line position other than center.
Still, any time you have a chance to improve over average, you might as well take it. His overall skill level and ability to play multiple positions is better suited in a “6th man” role, and drafting a guard to compete with him makes sense considering they also desperately need depth at the guard/center spots.
Is Ryan Wright Still Going to Be a Viking?
The Vikings extended their punter Ryan Wright, but he has consistently performed near the bottom of the league in the past two seasons.
It’s very unlikely that the Vikings would draft a punter since they only have 4 picks at the moment, but if they add more picks through a trade, you can rule out a 6th or 7th round punter.
Needs a Backup – Positional Needs
Interior Offensive Line, Edge Rusher, Inside Linebacker, Safety
By this point, you’re looking for players who not only fill out your 53 man roster, but could also play situational snaps or step into a bigger role due to injury. These are spots where the Vikings have a big hole in their 53 man outlook.
Offensive Line
Most teams will keep 9 offensive linemen on their 53 man roster, and have 7 or 8 active on gameday.
The general strategy is that you need to be very confident in your 5 starters, and then at least be confident in 2-3 backups with at least 1 player who can play all 5 positions.
The Vikings got offensive tackle depth in free agency by signing veteran Justin Skule, and they like 2nd-year tackle Walter Rouse. But they desperately need help when it comes to depth on the interior offensive line.
Right now if the Vikings needed a backup at LG, C, or RG, it would be 2024 7th round pick Michael Jurgens who has never played a snap (and was given an undrafted grade by me prior to last year’s draft).
Getting a backup who can be competent at any of those three positions is critical for any team. It’s especially important for the Vikings since their new center Ryan Kelly has dealt with multiple injuries, and right guard Will Fries is also coming off an injury.
Edge Rusher
Despite losing Patrick Jones who totaled 7 sacks last season, the Vikings are very confident with their main group of edge rushers.
Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Greenard each finished in the top 10 in the NFL in sacks last season, and second year outside linebacker Dallas Turner has insanely high potential.
Despite this, most teams roster 5 edge rushers and everyone loves to heavily rotate this position. The Vikings also like to use more than 2 edge rushers on the field in certain packages, and they want to allow Van Ginkel to move around the field and take advantage of his versatility.
They certainly won’t use a 1st round pick at the position, but getting a high quality 4th edge rusher can absolutely help take this team over the top.
Linebacker
The Vikings have one of the more underrated linebacker tandems in the league with Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace, but behind them is a big question mark.
As the Vikings are technically a 3-4 base and always use 5 defensive backs anyway, they don’t need to invest too heavily in LB3 since the position will only get a few snaps a game.
Still, you need to account for injuries plus the fact that Pace and Cashman will be expecting pay days in the near future.
LB3 is currently a competition between 30-year-old journeyman Eric Wilson and former 3rd rounder Brian Asamoah. Wilson has mostly been a special teams player recently, and Asamoah has never proven to be an NFL-caliber player.
Taking a linebacker this year would be partially about depth, but largely about hoping to invest in a starter once Cashman and Pace hit free agency.
Safety
We’ve already discussed safety, but it needed to be included here as well.
If the Vikings aren’t able to upgrade at a starting safety spot, they’ll desperately need to get a 4th safety for depth.
Since adding Brian Flores, Minnesota has been keeping 5 or 6 safeties on the roster. Right now, the Vikings only have 3 NFL-caliber safeties on the team (the 3 starters mentioned previously). They also have Jay Ward who the team still seems to like as a special teamer, but has made more negative plays than positive plays in his career.
They have room to add 1 or 2 more safeties to upgrade the depth while also investing in the future at that position.
Quarterback
It felt appropriate to add here that the Vikings do absolutely need a backup QB, but that isn’t something that will be addressed in the draft. JJ McCarthy is their young guy to build around, and bringing in another pick will only complicate things. They’ll add a veteran either in free agency or through a trade to fill that spot.
Wants a Backup – Positional Needs
Wide Receiver, Defensive Line, Tight End, Running Back, Cornerback
Depth matters. Even though these positions are filled pretty well, it doesn’t hurt to fill out the bottom of the roster.
Wide Receiver
The Vikings obviously love their top 2 receivers, Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
Jalen Nailor had a few big moments last season, and while inconsistent, provided just about as much production from the WR3 spot as the Vikings have had in a long time.
They added Rondale Moore through free agency to compete for the WR4 spot, but they could definitely use some more bodies.
Most teams will keep 5-6 wide receivers, and Minnesota only has 4 players worthy of a 53-man roster spot, two of which have dealt with a ton of injuries (Moore and Nailor).
It’s actually a pretty big need to grab a WR4 or WR5 considering the lack of depth currently at the position, but objectively doesn’t impact winning a ton unless injuries start to mount.
Defensive Line
Defensive Line is the only position in this category that the Vikings would consider drafting in the 1st round.
Despite being a 3-4 base, the Vikings rarely ever use 3 defensive lineman at a time. And yet for the first time in a long time, Minnesota has an incredible trio with Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave, and Harrison Phillips. They also really liked what they saw out of Jalen Redmond last year, rewarding him with a contract extension down the stretch of the season.
Anyone the Vikings draft at this spot likely won’t play much their first year, but an infusion of young legs is completely necessary here. Allen and Hargrave are dealing with injuries, and all 3 starters are likely in the latter half of their careers.
Tight End
The Vikings have two really solid tight ends TJ Hockenson and Josh Oliver, but they lost their long time TE3 in Johnny Mundt and will need to replace that roster spot. With both their tight ends having been in the NFL for over 5 years now, it could be a good time to use a late round pick to get some fresh legs in the room.
Running Back
After resigning Aaron Jones and trading for Jordan Mason, the Vikings could afford to skip on running back if they want to. But with the incredible depth of the 2025 running back draft class? I don’t think they’ll want to.
Jones is coming off a great year, but he’s had quite a few injuries and is now in his 30s. Mason is a solid option, but there’s not much behind him. Ty Chandler has really struggled throughout his career, and a late round pick up has the potential to be a big benefit over the next few years.
Cornerback
Cornerback was discussed above as a spot to add a starter. If Minnesota doesn’t add a starter, I’d thoroughly expect them to try to add some depth. Right now their only big-bodied corners are Jeff Okudah whose coming off injury and struggled in his career, plus Dwight McGlothern who was an undrafted rookie last season.
Minnesota Vikings Trade Strategy
It’s likely that the Vikings will look to trade down with their 1st and 3rd round picks considering they only have 4 total picks and plenty of depth needs.
That being said, Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah can be a little hard to predict. He took an aggressive approach with multiple trade-ups in 2024, but was much more interested in trading down in 2023 and 2022.
Signs point to a trade down this year, but it isn’t impossible that they stay put at 24.
If they don’t trade down from 24, Vikings fans probably don’t need to watch day 2 of the NFL Draft. They only have one pick, 99th overall, which comes near the end of the day’s final round. If they don’t trade that first pick, they are definitely trading this pick which would mean Vikings fans sat through 3 hours of the draft all too see them trade their only pick of the day.
Have any of your own thoughts on the Minnesota Vikings NFL Draft Strategy this season? Leave them in the comments below.
