Second Round
David Bell – WR (Purdue)
Wide receiver is a need the Vikings addressed in the 2021 NFL Draft when they used a fifth-round pick on former Iowa receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette. He’ll compete and possibly be Minnesota’s third receiver next season and work out of the slot.
While his selection definitely improves the depth of the Vikings’ receiving corps, they need to find a replacement for Adam Thielen.
Thielen will be 31 when the 2021 season starts and he has some huge cap hits coming up. He’s due to make $12 million in 2022, $13 million in 2023, and $14 million in 2024. That is a lot to pay a receiver who will be well into his 30s.
Minnesota has a track record of restructuring these types of contracts and they have even shown the audacity to cut a player who is too old to be making those types of dollars.
So while the Vikings may have some future pieces in place for their receiver corps, they’ll need to find one more. That could happen in the 2022 NFL Draft in the form of Purdue wide receiver David Bell.
Bell has great size at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds. He’s been very productive in his time at Purdue catching 139 career passes for 1,660 yards and 15 touchdowns. He’s not a burner but is fast enough. Where he wins is at going up and catching contested balls. Bell understands how to position his body and is great at hand battling defenders. He has all the makings of a very good number two option in the passing game and would be a huge score for the Vikings in the second round.