Signs point to Wyatt Davis not being the answer for the Vikings
By Luke Parrish
Did the Vikings really want to draft Davis in 2021?
There have been some rumors floating around that the Vikings’ front office had differing viewpoints of Wyatt Davis coming out of college. Some reportedly believed that he did not have a draftable grade and that he was, at best, a backup guard in the NFL.
In the end, Rick Spielman addressed a need that the Vikings have had forever and used a pretty valuable selection on Davis just for him to ride the pine all season. In his final season as the team’s general manager, Spielman put on a clinic of poor drafting.
The Vikings left the 2021 NFL Draft with just one rookie contributor, and their third-round picks were all backups who rarely, if ever, saw the field. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Vikings just over-drafted Davis and he was not ready for the NFL.
With a new regime in place, the Vikings still don’t seem to value Davis all too much. Even after striking out in the early stages of free agency, they have continued to do their homework on interior offensive linemen. That has also allowed them to sign Jesse Davis, who is the frontrunner to be their starting right guard next season, according to multiple reports.
Even though the Vikings used a top-100 pick on Davis, it’s not really a guarantee that the organization loved him. They needed competition at right guard and they took a chance on a player that looked the part in his first few years of college ball. Now, he projects as a fringe roster player with no sizeable impact.
Now, drafting Davis may not have been the right move at the time, but the Vikings were trying. They still got a player that was expected to challenge for a starting spot and he failed miserably but not because the coaches desperately wanted him to.
Their recent moves indicate that the Vikings want to improve their offensive line from last season and Davis is part of the group that needs improving. Will he beat out the rest of the competition this time around?