5 players the Vikings will regret passing on in the 2020 NFL Draft

Antoine Winfield Jr. – DB (Minnesota)

This one hurt Vikings fans probably more than it hurt the Vikings. Antoine Winfield Jr. would’ve been a very popular player for the Vikings, being the son of a former franchise legend and a former Minnesota Golden Gopher.

There were thoughts that Minnesota could’ve grabbed him at the end of the first round when they traded back to pick No. 31. The draft coverage even showed the Winfield home and they were all smiling. The Vikings ended up going with Jeff Gladney instead.

Heading into Day 2 of the draft, there was some thought that the Vikings were going to be aggressive and use some of the extra picks they had previously acquired to move up. This got fans excited as they assumed Winfield Jr. was one player they could come up and get.

That didn’t’ happen and Winfield was off the board with the 13th pick of the second round. Minnesota held tight and ended up with Ezra Cleveland, who looks to be the team’s left tackle of the future.

There could be a couple of reasons why the Vikings passed on Winfield. The first is that they rightly justified left tackle being a more important position to upgrade. They also may believe they can agree to a long term extension with Anthony Harris.

If they do that, the need for getting a safety who can be a potential starter goes down greatly. Even so, Minnesota could regret one day passing on Winfield if he ends up being the player in the NFL that he was in college.