With just four picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings have a lot of work to do if they want to significantly improve their team.
The number one strategy that many believe the Vikings will try to employ is to trade down, but that could prove to be difficult in a draft class that’s relatively weak in comparison to past years.
If they are able to trade up or even if they can’t, the strategy for the first pick they make was made more clear on Thursday afternoon.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah tipped his hand on Vikings’ draft strategy
One of the interesting things that came from general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s pre-NFL Draft press conference was when he was asked about his trades. His answer came about with him making his own trade chart, but how he targets players raised an eyebrow for me.
“A lot of times, it’s impact and that impact can be one great player or multiple good players, also realizing that it’s uncertain and you don’t know necessarily for sure that the one player is going to be good and all those different dynamics so, that’s really the conversation you have,” said Adofo-Mensah when asked about trading down versus sticking and picking.” Right now, at this point in the draft, we try and make sure our board is correct in terms of how we view things. You’ve got to prepare yourself. You’re picking 24th you better be able to call 24 and have 24 names that you’re willing to stand up and clap and feel great about. So that’s the first and foremost in the foundation of how we build this thing.
“The trades and all those things, scenarios, they come. Moving over to the charts and different evaluations, it’s a difficult exercise. It’s something that I’ve been fascinated by. I built the chart myself, I’ve seen other different charts, and they all take different assumptions or quite frankly, this is a hard exercise. How do you value a great player in a great position, you could assign a number to it, right? When you assign that number to it, does that incorporate the scarcity of that type of player? If you don’t get that player in the draft, you can’t typically get that player in for agency so, how do you put a number on that aspect of it? It’s in different people or different ways of doing that.”
We got a lot of interesting points from Adofo-Mensah, but it’s this part of the quote that raised an alarm for me.
“How do you value a great player in a great position, you could assign a number to it, right? When you assign that number to it, does that incorporate the scarcity of that type of player? If you don’t get that player in the draft, you can’t typically get that player in for agency so, how do you put a number on that aspect of it?”
There are certain positions that have a significnatly higher hit rate more than others when they are taken in the first round. Defensive linemen and edge rushers have a significant sharp decline after the first round, especially when it comes to finding elite pass rushers. It declines much more so than other premium positions, like wide receiver and cornerback, where you can find high-end starters much easier on late day two, early day three.
The Vikings haven’t had a truly elite interior pass rusher since Kevin Williams. They were hoping that Sharrif Floyd, the last interior defensive lineman they drafted in round one in 2013, would be the guy but a botched knee surgery in 2016 ended his career prematurely.
The Vikings did draft their first round one edge rusher since Kenechi Udeze in 2006 last year in Dallas Turner and they showed a real desire to bring him in with a trade up from 23rd to 17th overall. Will that end up working out? Turner showed a lot of promise in his 312 snaps last season, but you had to read between the lines on it, as his snaps were very inconsistent.
One of the other reasons why the Vikings might want to focus on the defensive line is the talent in this class. The defensive tackles are really deep in the first round with players like Kenneth Grant, Derrick Harmon, and Walter Nolen at the top of the draft. Those can be major difference makers in generating a pass rush, especially with edge rushers that are explosive around the arc. Having threats on the interior can make things easier on guys like Turner, Jonathan Greenard, and Andrew Van Ginkel.
Now, the Vikings could theoretically take an edge rusher as well. A third edge rusher is very important in today’s NFL. Just look at what the Philadelphia Eagles did last year. They used hockey-style substitutions on their defensive line to keep guys fresh and it was a big factor why they ended up winning the Super Bowl this past year.
There are no certainties in this NFL Draft, but taking a player on the defensive line feels like the direction right now.