The signings of Patrick Peterson and Dalvin Tomlinson have changed the needs of the Minnesota Vikings for the 2021 NFL Draft.
The first wave of the 2021 NFL free agency period is winding down and teams across the league, including the Minnesota Vikings, have begun to fill some of the holes on their roster.
As each team takes care of some of their needs in free agency, they are also beginning to narrow down which prospects they will target in the 2021 NFL Draft. While the draft remains a crapshoot, free agency does take a little bit of the guessing out, and we can narrow the possible options down to a few prospects or less, especially in the first round.
The Vikings were busy during the first week of free agency this year and they brought in some big names that shored up some need areas on their roster.
Minnesota signed big, defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson to be the three-technique next season. While three-technique hasn’t been Tomlinson’s primary position throughout his career, he has played it before. He has the quickness, power, and burst to be a very good interior disruptor for the purple and gold in 2021.
The Vikings also made noise this past week when they signed future Hall-of-Fame cornerback Patrick Peterson.
Peterson is toward the end of his NFL career, but the experience he brings to the Vikings secondary will be huge for the development of Cameron Dantzler, Jeff Gladney, and the rest of the team’s young corners. Minnesota also added quality depth at linebacker with free-agent Nick Vigil and they were able to re-sign offensive lineman Rashod Hill and wide receiver Chad Beebe.
These moves have shaken up the Vikings’ current roster needs. So how could this year’s NFL Draft for Minnesota unfold after factoring in the signings they just made in free agency?