Last summer, the Minnesota Vikings made the decision to cut safety Lewis Cine less than three years after selecting him in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft after he put together a successful college career at Georgia. In a few months, some believe the Vikings might attempt to take another shot on a former Georgia safety with their top pick in this year's NFL Draft.
On Monday, CBS Sports's Ryan Wilson shared a post-combine version of his latest 2025 NFL mock draft, and with the 24th overall selection in the opening round, he has Minnesota using its pick on former Bulldogs safety Malaki Starks.
Wilson highlighted Starks's versatility in the defensive backfield as something that Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores could use to his advantage.
"Put aside for the moment that Starks is an elite athlete who can line up anywhere in the secondary -- he's also one of the smartest players on the field who was a team leader from the moment he stepped on campus in Athens."
Minnesota Vikings selecting Malaki Starks in 2025 NFL Draft will depend on free agency
Currently, Minnesota has a number of questions surrounding the status of the players who made up its 2024 safety group.
Harrison Smith might retire, Cam Bynum and Theo Jackson are free agents, and no one really knows what to expect from Jay Ward. If Smith decides to call it a career and Bynum signs elsewhere this offseason, then Minnesota's need for a safety will quickly emerge as one of the team's top priorities this year.
The Vikings could still choose to fill that need in free agency, but they could also use one of their picks in this year's NFL Draft to add more talent to the group, just as Wilson has them doing in his recent mock draft.
As for Starks, one would hope he would end up having a better career with Minnesota than the last Georgia safety the team drafted with a first-round pick.
In 14 games with the Bulldogs last season, he accumulated 77 total tackles (four for a loss), three pass breakups, and one interception. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound defensive back is currently the top-ranked safety on PFF's 2025 draft big board and the 10th-ranked prospect overall.
To land a player with pick No. 24 that some view as one of the 10-best prospects in this year's draft pool seems like it would be a huge steal for the Vikings if it were to actually happen.
Unfortunately, if Minnesota does decide to draft Starks with its top pick in April, some members of the team's fan base bringing up the negative experience with Cine seems inevitable. Hopefully, however, this Georgia safety would be able to help erase some of those bad memories by actually being able to make an impact for the Vikings out on the field.