5 defensive prospects for the Vikings to watch at the 2021 Senior Bowl

Divine Deablo – S (Virginia Tech)

The Vikings will be drafting at least two safeties in 2021 because of the reasons we stated earlier. There just isn’t any depth behind Harrison Smith right now.

The Senior Bowl is chock full of these guys and another player Minnesota should pay extra attention to this week is Virginia Tech safety Divine Deablo.

Deablo has decent size at 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds. While he’s plenty big, he isn’t what one would define as a big hitter. But he’s got great tackling technique and he wraps opponents up well.

Deablo is very solid in coverage and he uses his great size to go up and high point the ball to knock it away from the intended receiver. Speaking of receiver, that is the position Deablo used to play, so he understands the nuances of route-running, which allows him to better anticipate what receivers are going to do in certain situations.

While being a converted receiver will help Deablo identify routes, it also means he is raw. So if the Vikings were to draft him, he’d need some developing, and he wouldn’t be much more than a depth piece or a special teamer as a rookie.

Deablo is probably destined to be a Day 3 pick, but he has a much higher ceiling than the average late-rounder. How he performs at the Senior Bowl this week should help the Vikings get a better sense of his skill-set and where he will ultimately come off the board in April.