It’s NFL Draft week (finally) and the rumors about what the Minnesota Vikings will do with the No. 8 overall pick are only going to increase the closer the draft gets.
If the latest speculation is accurate, the Vikings probably won’t be using that first-round pick on Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles or Derek Carr – the top four quarterbacks in the draft.
According to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback, the Vikings are more likely to wait until the second round to draft a quarterback.
The Vikings are more inclined than ever to get their quarterback out of a bottlenecked group of passers at No. 40 in the second round. Vikes want a front-seven disruptor—defensive tackle Aaron Donald comes to mind—more than anything else up here.
Pro Football Talk‘s Joseph Alper writes that Minnesota could be signaling a willingness to trade down if they don’t plan on drafting a quarterback, or trying to plant a fake seed to keep teams from jumping ahead of them to pick a quarterback.
If Donald is the player the Vikings are targeting, would they snatch him up at No. 8 or try to trade down and grab him in the teens or twenties? Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network recently reported that an unidentified team thinks Donald is a top 10 talent. However, King said the unidentified team isn’t in the top 10 of the draft order, which would eliminate the Vikings from being said team.
Mock drafters still seem to think the Vikings will use the No. 8 pick on a quarterback. Peter Schrager of Fox Sports has Bortles going to the Vikings. The same goes for Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller. NFL Network’s Bucky Brooks has the Vikings taking Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack in the first round while waiting until round three to take a quarterback – LSU’s Zach Mettenberger.
Quarterback and front-seven positions aren’t the only areas of need for the Vikings. With Toby Gerhart signing with Jacksonville, the Vikings need a backup for running back Adrian Peterson. NFL.com has more on what the Vikings could do to take the load of Peterson.
The NFL Draft is Thursday-Saturday in New York City.
