5 best Minnesota Vikings fifth-round picks of the last decade

Kentrell Brothers – LB (2016)

Kentrell Brothers’ career numbers wouldn’t make one think he’d land on a list of the Vikings best fifth-round picks of the last decade, but here he is.

Brothers has hung around with Minnesota during the last four seasons for basically one reason and one reason only and that is his special teams play. The guy is a beast on special teams. He’s always hustling down the field and being one of the first to make a tackle or making blocks that spring a long return.

Brothers also played well when forced into actual defensive duty on game days. He was a tackling machine in his college days at Missouri, but that hasn’t translated so much to the pros as he’s totaled just 55 tackles and a sack in his four years with the Vikings.

Brothers hasn’t had much of an opportunity to make a splash on defense though since he plays behind one of the best in Eric Kendricks. Kendricks isn’t just super productive, he’s also very durable, rarely missing time. That’s been good for Minnesota, but not so much for Mr. Brothers.

It’s quite likely that Brothers will leave the Vikings in free agency this year for a potential bigger role somewhere else. Being the competitor he is, he’ll want a chance to start and that isn’t going to happen in Minnesota with Kendricks ahead of him on the depth chart.

While Brothers was never a star during the last four years with the Vikings, he was a solid role player whose value went far beyond his actual production.