Vikings Draft 2021: Five-round immediate impact mock draft
By Luke Parrish
Fourth Round (Pick No. 143)
Joshuah Bledsoe – S (Missouri)
You may have started to notice a pattern here of double-dipping and layering in some competition to areas of need. The Vikings had a bad defense in 2020 to say it nicely and Mike Zimmer will not let that happen again.
Rather than wasting picks on players that will take time to be impactful, Minnesota decides to shake things up and add another safety in the middle of the draft that will challenge Jevon Holland and the other safeties for the starting job.
Bledsoe has mentioned that the Vikings are interested in him and have taken their time in meetings as they look to address the open spot at safety. At the very least, they could use help on special teams with their gunners after the experiment of Dan Chisena last season.
Bledsoe is not primed to be a deep, single-high safety, at least not yet. He plays at his best when near the line or in the slot and does a pretty good job in man coverage. He would be a nice feature as the third safety playing in certain packages, similar to how Minnesota used Jayron Kearse in the past.