Minnesota Vikings Draft 2017: Final rankings and grades – Defense
By Jordan Reid
The Minnesota Vikings currently hold eight picks in this years draft. Who are some defensive players they could target?
Throughout his tenure, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman has been known as one of the tops in the league as far as drafting and developing players. Before the 2015 NFL Draft, he found a way to have at least two first-round picks. Due to that, he has garnered the nickname of “Trader Rick” because of his wheeling and dealing style.
To this point, the 2016 draft class could be labeled a disappointment. It is the class that had the lowest number of total snap counts among their rookie class across the entire league. There’s still hope for the class, but it is off to a rough start and clearly one of the roughest of Spielman’s tenure.
A brutal knee injury to quarterback Teddy Bridgewater threw an early wrench into the Vikings’ draft, as Spielman had to quickly turn around and make a trade for then Philadelphia Eagles QB Sam Bradford, surrendering a 2017 first-round pick and a 2018 fourth-round pick.
The trade still left the team in good shape despite not having a selection on the first night of the draft. Still having a second, two third-round, two fourth-round, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh round selection, Spielman has plenty of draft capital to help supplement the promising team he has built.
Starting off a two-day series, below are my 2017 NFL Draft offensive positional rankings and mini-scouting reports of prospects that I think will interest the Vikings. When taking these prospects into account, I don’t include off the field troubles or injuries as I do not have the proper information for each and every prospect.