How do you grade the Vikings' 2023 draft?

Then all of the pre-draft rankings, player profiles/comps, mock drafts, etc. are nonsense? What about your preferences? How did you grade the different prospects? How is it different now, just because we're doing it as a whole? Why does the draft even matter if we're waiting a few years to form an opinion? No, we grade now and THEN in a few years, to see how right or wrong we were. I never understand this logic that "it's too soon to grade the draft class." Really? Because all I've been reading for the past three months is how different prospects were graded. lol. Pick a lane, folks. Either you know a thing or two about these prospects or you don't.

I don't know Jack S about these prospects. I hope they're good.

Alright, time for some grades. Trigger warning for y'all out there who can't stand them, stop reading! I like to go back to my grades in the future and see how well my grades aged, unlike most folks, so it's not just empty grading. I enjoy learning from my past decisions, and you can't learn without making the predictions in the first place!

Here are all the players and any UDFAs that were on my board.



WR Jordan Addison - C

Addison was a borderline guy who my board knocked due to subpar athletic measurements, but there is reason to believe that he can overcome these deficiencies. It's a minor reach that is accentuated by the fact that there were several better defensive players on the board at positions of dire need, and we passed on them. I do think WR was a big need because it was clear that Osborn was going to be mediocre as a #2 based upon his disappointing numbers in 2022 after getting a big increase in snaps played. However, I would have preferred defense here and going WR in the 3rd round, where there were several decent guys (nowhere close to Addison, mind you) on the board.

CB Mekhi Blackmon - C-

I switched one thing in the creation of my board to track PFF's ranking of a player rather than the rating, thus Blackmon was hurt by this pick. Still, while the great play in 2022 is a big green flag, there are plenty of red ones - age (24), penalty problems, soft-tissue injuries, and poor size for a CB that we'd prefer to play on the outside. He profiles as a backup CB and was a seemingly odd choice for a scouting department that prioritized top-notch athletes at DB like in the 2022 draft, and I also had 8 other CBs ranked higher on my draft board. I will trust Brian Flores (though in my Vikings history, trusting our DC with developing CBs has failed for about 13 years straight, minus a couple exceptions), but the grade is lower because he likely would have been on the board well into the 4th round.

CB/S Jay Ward - F

I'm not pulling punches here, I hold all teams accountable for picks I find to be terrible - and trust me, I'd love to be wrong. But Ward is barely a draftable prospect and I find it borderline irresponsible to spend a 4th round pick on him. He looks like a tweener who will likely end up at nickel as he'd be a skinny safety and is a poor tackler, but he's also on the slower side at CB. His PFF didn't think he was draftable, and his PFF grades were poor. I predict he ends up as a quality special teamer who does not play important snaps on defense at a high level.

DT Jaquelin Roy - B-

Roy got bumped down my draft board due to a very poor RAS score, but I usually give adjustments to the run stuffers as RAS isn't as important for them. He was consistently seen as a 4th round prospect and is a sturdy run stuffer, something this team needs in the interior with Tomlinson gone. Whether he develops pass rushing ability will remain to be seen. I think there is more room for development for Roy compared to the two CBs that went ahead of him.

QB Jaren Hall - B

Hall wasn't my favorite Day 3 QB prospect, but has the tools to be a passable backup at some point. He's got a solid floor with a decent arm, ok accuracy, enough mobility (I love the stat that he was only sacked 12 times in 2022). Injuries has been a huge problem for him, but when viewing him as a backup QB, that's not a problem. We'll have to see if his field vision and ability to process against an NFL defense is up to snuff, as you could say the same stuff about Kellen Mond, and that was his downfall. It would be quite the accomplishment if KOC could coach him up into something.

RB DeWayne McBride - A+

Finally, something above a B! I was crushing hard in the draft process on McBride despite his warts (zero passing game experience, fumble issues, below average top speed), as he's tough as a bull and impossible to tackle. He was facing inferior competition compared to others, but he regularly displayed great vision and burst on several long runs. It takes multiple guys to bring him down and he fights to the last yard, something we lacked from our running game last year. He could easily be the 1B RB in a rotation with a guy with passing chops, as he reminds me of Devin Singletary and D'Onta Foreman. I love spending a 7th rounder on this kind of player, especially a RB.

UDFA Class - A+

This is what is currently saving the class for me. Landing both Ivan Pace Jr. and Andre Carter II is fantastic, given that I had decently high grades on them. Carter II fell due to poor athletic measurements but his tape is on par with a 2nd round pick, and could easily win the 5th OLB spot from Luiji Vilian. Pace Jr. reminds me of Eric Wilson, and should fill in on special teams while potentially pushing for a dime LB subpackage on the defense at some point down the line. Adding competition at kicker is a no-brainer, and Podlesney was my top kicking UDFA, so perhaps they can strike gold again like last year with Wright (glad we didn't have to blow a pick on K/P). Knowles and Sims are two other UFDAs that I have my eyes on.


Final Grade: C

I don't love the draft class at first glance - it's an easy D at first, but when you factor in for the fact that our 2nd was flipped for a 4th for Hockenson and our original 4th was traded for Akayleb Evans, it's not so bad. The UFDA class helps too, as it is probably the best class on paper that I've ever seen the Vikings land.

My primary gripe is that our new regime has spent way too much draft capital on DBs, as we've now spent:

1st - Lewis Cine
2nd - Andrew Booth Jr. (we moved up and down with this pick)
5th / 4th - Akayleb Evans
3rd - Mekhi Blackmon
4th - Jay Ward

That's just too much for one position group, and it's led to a complete dearth of selections for the front seven (zero picks in the 1st/2nd rounds the past two years, only Asamoah if you include 3rd). We also return an interior offensive line that sports 3 below average pass blockers that faces zero pressure, while there were a couple options out there in the 3rd/4th round. It's obvious that they couldn't have addressed every weakness as there are too many, but this defense is simply not going to be competitive, even with Hunter and Smith returning. This secondary had better be a top 10 unit in 2024, or this was a waste of draft capital.

I gave it a C as it largely seemed meh to me but I was close to bumping it up to a B if I am being honest. The more I looked into Addison the more I found reasons to think it was a solid choice even if not my preference at the time given defensive guys on the board. Seeing his play speed and that his combine numbers might not do him justice helped. He does seem to constantly be able to get open which is obviously huge for a wr next to JJ. There is reason to believe this keeps our offensive weapons in the elite category for years to come (assuming JJ and hockenson stay).

I was not a very big fan of our defensive draft picks from a value perspective. I was a big fan of Flores who likely drove those decisions though. Offensively I think McBride and hall were good values with Addison being worthy of the slot taken. So offensively we had a good value draft, defensively we didn’t but I want to trust Flores and assume we got his type of players.

Lastly I think we kind of killed it in the udfa portion. Pace Avery and carter all seem like great shots to take, would have been worthy of a later pick. This all leads me to a grade of roughly B-. It’s tough to have back to back years questioning “value” but at the same time we have to trust the coaches we brought in to get the guys they think fit.

I gave it a C. First three picks were horribly underwhelming to me.

Addsion - you cut AT (which I agree with) because they weren't throwing the ball to him after Hock got there. You go out and spend a decent chunk of your budget on a run blocking TE. You've already got KJ who spent 60% of his snaps in the slot. You are trying to improve one of the worst defenses in the league. And you draft a 173lb who's not a burner for where? I'm not a huge fan of the player but I get WR value at that spot. The thing I just don't get is how inconsistent this move is for what they've done elsewhere. Because I feel like we drafted KJ's replacement in two years at best.

Blackmon - I can squint my eyes for a better grade. Something about him they like from a scheme perspective. Maybe he was more coveted that most thought. It happens. All it takes is one team to draft the guy you really really like more than most. Ok. I can live with that. But you get one of these.

Jay Ward - I'd like to say 'see Blackmon' on this one but instead, I call bullsh*t. They get one annual 'I'm smarter than you' pick and they used it in the round before. Last year it was Ingram.

My biggest problem with the first three picks is the lack of upside. Which I see most likely being a solid slot WR who's your #2 option ever at best and likely your #3, A decent outside corner with warts who does well in the right system, and another scheme guy who could be a decent nickel.

The rest of the draft was great. The Hall pick is fun. Roy is a good devel IOL. McBride could be a steal. Some really good UDFA's.

The collection of players overall is a B for me. As posted above, if they had gone Carter, McBride, Pace, and then rounded things out with the remainder in the later rounds I'd still have the same concerns but the low ceiling approach for the first three picks is disappointing.