3 needs for Vikings to target with top draft pick after first free agency wave

Defensive End

The Vikings did address the defensive end position this offseason by bringing back Stephen Weatherly prior to the start of free agency. But he should be looked at as more of a depth piece.

He didn’t register a sack in his role as a starter for the Carolina Panthers last year and he needs to go back to having a situational role where he’s used on the inside and the outside of the defensive line.

D.J. Wonnum could start opposite Danielle Hunter, but the jury is still out on him. Wonnum had a great start to the 2021 season, but he hit that rookie wall by about the middle of Minnesota’s schedule, and he finished the year with six straight games without a sack.

Mike Zimmer will want to continue to improve the Vikings defense, so the team could look for an edge rusher who possesses the upside to be a starter, and they could find this player with the No. 14 pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

The two names that immediately come to mind are Michigan’s Kwity Paye and Miami’s Gregory Rousseau. Paye is a relentless edge rusher whose motor doesn’t stop. He’s more stoutly built than Rousseau, but he is extremely quick off the ball, and he has violent hands. Paye does have more experience, and he is deemed a safer pick, but he doesn’t have the upside of Rousseau.

Rousseau is a prototypical defensive end prospect standing at 6-foot-7 with limbs that go on forever. He is definitely a boom or bust prospect, but if he does live up to the potential he showed during the 2019 season, Minnesota could find themselves with the next Danielle Hunter on their roster.