The Minnesota Vikings are gearing up for next week’s NFL Draft. Who are some prospects they should approach with caution?
The 2020 NFL Draft is just a handful of days away and the Minnesota Vikings are making their final preparations.
The Vikings and other teams around the NFL are meeting with as many prospects as they can and also double-checking their reports on every player to ensure they have them slotted in the right spots on their boards.
While Minnesota makes these final moves, they are surely noticing some prospects with more red flags than others.
Some of these players’ concerns are so serious they could be taken out of consideration altogether, while others could just be moved down the board a bit. If the Vikings have two prospects ranked very closely, these red flags could end up being what determines their selection.
Who are some of this year’s draft prospects Minnesota needs to be wary of? These aren’t guys the Vikings should take off of their list, but players who definitely have some concerns and maybe should be passed over if a less risky prospect who is closely-ranked is also on the board.
Raekwon Davis – DT (Alabama)
Raekwon Davis possesses all the tools to be a dominating interior disruptor in the NFL. He has impressive size standing 6-foot-6 and weighing 311 pounds. He is powerful and quick with the ability to take over a game. The issue is that he hasn’t dominated since 2017.
In 2017, Davis burst onto the scene when he finished with 69 total tackles (10 for a loss), 8.5 sacks, and one interception. He looked to be a man amongst boys and he dominated his competition. Since then his numbers have fallen off the map.
In 2018, his sack total dropped to just 1.5 and last season he had only half a sack. This brings up a couple of questions. The first is that opposing teams became aware of Davis and began double-teaming him. If that was the case, the double teams worked and Davis either doesn’t possess the power to bust through them or he lacks the fight and drive to.
Another concern that comes up is his overall stamina. Is the taking on double teams just wearing this big guy out? He did seem to fade as games went on and perhaps he just doesn’t have the stamina to hold up for a full four quarters of a game.
The last question that this drop off in production brings up is his overall determination to succeed. After his breakout season, perhaps Davis just figured that was good enough to secure his NFL future. It is fair for teams to question his overall passion and drive to be great. If he was determined to be the best, his numbers surely wouldn’t have taken such a nosedive.
Davis is very much a draftable prospect and he should still come off the board by the end of the second round. He has all the physical tools to succeed in the NFL and perhaps just needs a kick in the butt by a pro coach or veteran teammate.
Netane Muti – OG (Fresno State)
The Vikings have to bring in at least one guard in this year’s NFL Draft. The team foolishly let Josh Kline go and currently topping the depth chart is the very underwhelming Pat Elflein and the unproven Dru Samia.
Minnesota will want to add a rookie to the mix to compete with these two and Dakota Dozier and Brett Jones this summer. If the Vikings do this in one of the middle rounds, they could look at Netaine Muti, but they should approach this big man with some hesitation.
Physically, Muti has everything teams are looking for. He’s a thickly put together guy at 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds. He’s got plenty of strength and he demonstrated that at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine when he benched pressed 225 pounds an impressive 44 times.
He is a little heavy-footed and he isn’t the athlete that many of the guards in this class are. He can, however, anchor in pass protection and overpower defenders in the run game. Muti has also played some snaps at tackle, so his position flexibility will be a bonus.
The issue with Muti is his overall health. He has a long history of injuries and Is why he only played in a total of 19 games at Fresno State.
He missed the 2016 season because he blew out his Achilles earlier that summer. He ruptured his Achilles again in 2018 and suffered a Lisfranc injury that required surgery in 2019. For a guy so thickly built, having these previous injuries to his lower body is a huge concern.
Talent-wise, Muti should be about a third-round choice. But the injury history could push him down the board a few rounds. Even if the Vikings land him in the fifth round, they should curb their expectations until he can string together a healthy season or two.
Kristian Fulton – CB (LSU)
There’s no question Kristian Fulton is a talented football player. He is considered one of the top cornerbacks in the entire 2020 NFL Draft and he is someone the Vikings will consider at pick No. 22 or No. 25 if he’s still on the board.
While he’s got the size, speed, and length to be an ideal fit in Mike Zimmer’s system, there are plenty of concerns when it comes to this guy that Minnesota will surely have to factor in.
He has some maturity and character issues that need to be addressed. Back in 2017, he used someone else’s urine for a drug test and was suspended two years by the NCAA. The suspension was later reduced to one-year, but the incident showed an overall lack of maturity.
He was afraid he would test positive for marijuana and instead of taking the fall for his own mistake, he was willing to cheat and find a way around getting punished.
The Vikings did meet with Fulton face-to-face at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine and this topic had to come up. For Fulton’s sake, he hopefully owned up to this mistake and said that he learned from it enough for Minnesota to believe him.
Fulton also has an overall lack of production in his career at LSU. However, some of these low numbers are because teams just didn’t throw the ball his way much. That being said, when a team is using a first-round pick on a cornerback, they’d like to see more than 56 career tackles and two interceptions.
If the Vikings are taking Fulton with pick No. 22 or No. 25 this year, they are projecting what he can be and not basing it on what he’s done which is a bit worrisome.
Trey Adams – OT (Washington)
Trey Adams‘ injury history has been well documented and something I’ve already written about a few times. One would be hard-pressed to find a more injury-plagued player in this year’s class of prospects.
The tough part is that this guy showed so much potential before the injuries that teams will still be willing to gamble on him.
Adams has torn his ACL and had back surgery on a bulging disk. These two injuries are very significant for a player who relies on his size and has to play out of a crouching position on every down to make his living. Teams were surely doing checks and re-checks on his back and knee to make sure there were no chronic issues.
Another negative factor when it comes to Adams is the lack of athleticism he showed at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine. Adams ran the slowest 40-yard dash time of anyone in Indianapolis and his overall testing numbers were all scraping the bottom of the barrel. He looked stiff in drills and there was clearly some rust from the time he had missed.
Adams is going to fall in this year’s draft and he could potentially go undrafted. The only saving grace for him was the film he put together early in his career when he was healthy and dominating every defender he lined up against.
If the Vikings do use a draft choice on Adams, it will be a late one and he will be considered a major gamble.
Quartney Davis – WR (Texas A&M)
The Vikings will likely be taking multiple wideouts in this year’s NFL Draft and if they are looking to add a guy on Day 3, Quartney Davis could be considered. While he has plenty of positive attributes, there are a lot of risks when it comes to Davis.
Davis does suffer from mental lapses at times which causes him to drop far too many passes. He also has a scary injury history as he tore his ACL early in his college career and it cost him his first two seasons.
He also lacks overall production. Davis was the top dog at Texas A&M, but his career numbers aren’t as impressive as one might think. He caught 99 balls for 1,201 yards and 11 touchdowns in his college career.
With his size and route-running ability, his numbers should’ve been quite a bit higher. He also came out early, when his final season in college wasn’t his best and a more productive year could’ve increased his stock.
These are definitely concerns about Davis, but the guy is an exceptional route-runner and he has NFL size. With this being a deep receiver class, the concerns will probably push him into the third day of the draft.
While he could find a role for a team early in his career, he does come with plenty of question marks.