While the Minnesota Vikings kicked off the first phase of their voluntary offseason training program this past Monday, the big focus of the week is obviously the draft, which begins on Thursday night in Pittsburgh at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Barring a trade, the Vikings enter this year's festivities with nine total selections, which break down as follows:
- Round 1: No. 18 overall
- Round 2: No. 49 overall
- Round 3: No. 82 overall
- Round 3: No. 97 overall (compensatory selection)
- Round 5: No. 163 overall (from Philadelphia Eagles)
- Round 6: No. 196 overall (from Indianapolis Colts)
- Round 7: No. 234 overall
- Round 7: No. 235 overall (from Carolina Panthers)
- Round 7: No. 244 overall (from Houston Texans)
The 2026 NFL Draft will be a test for Minnesota Vikings interim general manager Rob Brzezinski, but head coach Kevin O'Connell is optimistic.
This certainly isn't a typical draft for the Vikes, as they'll obviously be making their nine selections without the services of a general manager. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, of course, was relieved of his duties in late January, and the organization opted not to search for his replacement until after the draft, ultimately giving control of the front office to Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski.
Brzezinski certainly knows what he's doing, as he's been in his current role since 2014, and the organization clearly has faith in him from an overall standpoint, as he's been with the franchise in some capacity since 1999. Honestly, it wouldn't be surprising to see him named to the GM role if things go well during the draft.
And head coach Kevin O'Connell seems certain that Brzezinski will indeed handle things well this week. In fact, he told the media that he's already shown some great leadership during the process leading into the draft.
"He's had the ability over these few weeks and couple months here to really show some high-, high-quality leadership traits, bringing people together — personnel, coaches, scouts — everybody coming together to have really, really good dialogue and really, really good back-and-forth," O'Connell said.
"It's been really fun to support him throughout that and really dive into this year's draft class and even beyond that, free agency. We're all really excited for this week."
In his own presser, in addition to expressing his gratitude toward plenty of others in the organization, Brzezinski gave the love right back to O'Connell.
"I mean, K.O. has been phenomenal," Brzezinski said. "He's been a great partner. He's a great friend. Couldn't have been more grateful to work through this process with him and the coaching staff. They've been so supportive and it's been awesome."
All that's left to do now is for the Vikings to crush the next three days to improve the roster, and O'Connell and Brezezinski are clearly confident that they'll do just that.
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