2026 Vikings Season

[Danchat]

19 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Their roster choices confound me.  I'm pretty happy they have switched to a heavier run game with multiple TEs on the field.  But then how do you make Aaron Jones your main back?  And have your third guy be a dude like Claiborne?  

Why do we invest a pick in Felton at all?  Golday isn't seeing the field - and I like him a lot - but that pick would've been better used elsewhere.

I really hope the new guy cleans up some of this.

Yeah, in my offseason plan I had the Vikings axing Jones and signing Allgeier plus adding a 3rd round rookie... going RB in Round 3 2025 would have been great, but instead they waited until a really bad RB class in 2026. At least they didn't reach, I had a 6th round grade on Claiborne, but still, he's a 6th rounder. Most college RBs whose skillset is speed only with nothing else do not become NFL caliber players.

Even without hindsight Felton was a brutal pick, I had a 5th round grade on him. The very next pick was WR Chimere Dike, who already has 50 catches, is a Pro Bowl punt returner and gunner. Elic Ayomanor and Tory Horton were higher on my board and look like WR3s at the very least whereas Felton looks like a 7th/UDFA type.

I'm still behind the Golday pick, LBs develop notoriously slow. I like Banks but he should have went Round 2, I like the Orange pick. The two 3rd rounders are pretty darn questionable as Jakobe Thomas was the next Tai Felton pick in my mind, now he's a weekly inactive behind UDFA Jacob Thomas who is clearly better. Caleb Tiernan was a BPA pick, but now that O'Neill is extended, his ceiling is backup tackle.

It's frustrating that so many of these guys are years away from playing when other teams' rookies are contributing right away. I noticed yesterday the Chargers had a 4th round safety Genesis Smith get 2 picks off Allen, and etc. Sometimes we need to show patience and not overreact like with Dallas Turner, but I don't get why the front office manages the team like they're a Super Bowl contender and then drafts so strangely. Dillon Thieneman was right there, take him and then save $12M on not signing Harrison Smith and upgrade the RB position / find a better center.

29 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I'm pretty happy they have switched to a heavier run game with multiple TEs on the field. 

Oliver is done for the year with a biceps tear, TE3 Bartholomew still hasn't played a single snap yet... we're going back to 1 TE sets, maybe more FB usage. KOC inexplicably played Bredeson only 10 of 59 snaps yesterday despite Jefferson and Oliver going down. Yurosek should be back soon to take over Oliver's blocking TE role.

[Mike Sixel]

42 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Yeah, in my offseason plan I had the Vikings axing Jones and signing Allgeier plus adding a 3rd round rookie... going RB in Round 3 2025 would have been great, but instead they waited until a really bad RB class in 2026. At least they didn't reach, I had a 6th round grade on Claiborne, but still, he's a 6th rounder. Most college RBs whose skillset is speed only with nothing else do not become NFL caliber players.

Even without hindsight Felton was a brutal pick, I had a 5th round grade on him. The very next pick was WR Chimere Dike, who already has 50 catches, is a Pro Bowl punt returner and gunner. Elic Ayomanor and Tory Horton were higher on my board and look like WR3s at the very least whereas Felton looks like a 7th/UDFA type.

I'm still behind the Golday pick, LBs develop notoriously slow. I like Banks but he should have went Round 2, I like the Orange pick. The two 3rd rounders are pretty darn questionable as Jakobe Thomas was the next Tai Felton pick in my mind, now he's a weekly inactive behind UDFA Jacob Thomas who is clearly better. Caleb Tiernan was a BPA pick, but now that O'Neill is extended, his ceiling is backup tackle.

It's frustrating that so many of these guys are years away from playing when other teams' rookies are contributing right away. I noticed yesterday the Chargers had a 4th round safety Genesis Smith get 2 picks off Allen, and etc. Sometimes we need to show patience and not overreact like with Dallas Turner, but I don't get why the front office manages the team like they're a Super Bowl contender and then drafts so strangely. Dillon Thieneman was right there, take him and then save $12M on not signing Harrison Smith and upgrade the RB position / find a better center.

Oliver is done for the year with a biceps tear, TE3 Bartholomew still hasn't played a single snap yet... we're going back to 1 TE sets, maybe more FB usage. KOC inexplicably played Bredeson only 10 of 59 snaps yesterday despite Jefferson and Oliver going down. Yurosek should be back soon to take over Oliver's blocking TE role.

Just wanted to say you couldn't be more right.