What are some reasons why the Minnesota Vikings should use their top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft on an edge rusher?
The Minnesota Vikings are finalizing their board in preparation for the 2021 NFL Draft, which is just a handful of days away.
Many expect the Vikings to use their first-round pick on an offensive lineman this year. This makes plenty of sense as Minnesota’s offensive line wasn’t good a season ago and it has actually gotten worse during the last few weeks.
While the offensive line definitely needs upgrading, it isn’t the only current hole on the Vikings’ roster. The team could use a young, talented safety to be the long-term answer opposite Harrison Smith and they have to improve their pass rush. The pass rush is what will take precedent over the need at safety and it is the need Minnesota could choose to address first.
The Vikings must get back to the playoffs if Mike Zimmer wants to keep his job as the team’s head coach beyond next season. Addressing the need at pass rush during this year’s draft could be the move that secures his tenure as Minnesota’s head coach. So what are a few reasons why the team should take this route with their 2021 first-round pick?
Upgrading the defense has been the theme of the offseason
The Vikings have made it a point to upgrade their defense so far this offseason and there’s no reason to think they’ll switch gears now. Mike Zimmer was clearly, and obviously, embarrassed by his side of the ball’s performance, and their inability to stop even the most underwhelming offenses.
Minnesota has been aggressive in bringing in players like Dalvin Tomlinson, Patrick Peterson, Stephen Weatherly, Mackensie Alexander, and Xavier Woods during free agency this year. They will also get Danielle Hunter, Michael Pierce, and Anthony Barr back on the field next season and suddenly, this unit is looking light years better than it did in January.
This is the side of the ball they have chosen to improve and this should continue in the early portions of the 2021 draft as well.
The Vikings couldn’t muster much of a pass rush last year without Danielle Hunter and their most productive pass rusher only played in six games. Zimmer isn’t going to go into next season with a question mark opposite Hunter.
Pass-rushing prospects like Michigan’s Kwity Paye, Miami’s Jaelan Philips, and even Miami’s Gregory Rousseau could all be prime targets for a team like Minnesota that is looking to finalize the overhaul of their defense.
Left tackle of the future is already on the roster
A lot of mock drafts and draft talk, in general, have the Vikings going with an offensive tackle or a guard who can also play tackle like Rashawn Slater or Alijah Vera-Tucker with pick No. 14 this year.
The thing these mocks are forgetting is that Minnesota’s left tackle of the future is already on the roster, making these selections moot.
The Vikings used a second-round pick in last year’s draft to get their left tackle of the future, Ezra Cleveland.
Minnesota would be foolish to select another tackle without even giving Cleveland a shot at playing the position for which he was drafted. They moved him inside to guard due to desperation a season ago, and he was stuck playing and learning a brand new position during his first year in the NFL.
The Vikings really only need help at both the guard positions. Guard isn’t a position a team addresses early in the draft unless they can land an elite and rare talent like a Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts.
Minnesota has a total of six choices in rounds three and four this year and they can use two of these picks to shore up the interior of their offensive line.
Knowing the left tackle of the future is on the roster already, the Vikings can focus on improving their pass rush at pick no. 14 and add the edge rusher they deem to be the best fit and value for their defense.
Vikings need to find a starter opposite Hunter
This has been eluded to all throughout this article, but the Vikings showed last season that without Danielle Hunter on the roster, there is no pass rush on this team.
Jalyn Holmes, Ifeadi Odenigbo, and D.J. Wonnum failed miserably in their attempts to replace Hunter’s pressures and production, and opposing quarterbacks had all day long to scan the field and find the open man.
Of the few mentioned above, Wonnum did flash some potential last year, and he will have the best chance to start opposite Hunter, but he hit the rookie wall and faded down the stretch in 2020.
The Vikings also brought back Stephen Weatherly, but in his stint as a fill-in starter in Minnesota and his brief tenure with the Carolina Panthers, he failed to produce starter-worthy numbers. if anyone thinks he’s the solution, they are dead wrong.
The Vikings simply have to find that guy who can complement Hunter like the way Everson Griffen used to. They didn’t find that guy in free agency and now the 2021 draft is their only chance remaining.
Their best chances will definitely come in the first round, which could be in the form of Kwity Paye. He’s a guy who has a motor that doesn’t stop, he uses his hands well to shed blocks, and he closes in on quarterbacks very quickly. Paye doesn’t have the injury history of Jaelan Phillips and he is a much safer pick than Gregory Rousseau.
5 prospects who could fall to the Vikings in the 2021 NFL Draft
Who are some of the top prospects that could fall to the Minnesota Vikings during the first round of the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft?
Paye could be the guy who can be that pass-rushing threat across from Hunter and if the Vikings are going to land him, it will probably have to be done with the 14th overall choice.