Following the conclusion of the 2024 NFL Draft earlier this year, the Minnesota Vikings were ecstatic about the fact that they managed to land both J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner in the opening round of the event. Both players have the potential to make a significant impact on the Vikings for the next decade.
But what if every team was given the opportunity to re-do their selections in the first round of this year's NFL Draft? Who would Minnesota end up with?
Well, Bleacher Report's Matt Holder recently took some time to predict how a 2024 NFL re-draft might turn out, and spoiler alert, Turner did not land with the Vikings.
Minnesota Vikings end up with talented defensive lineman in 2024 NFL re-draft
Minnesota originally entered this year's NFL Draft with picks No. 11 and No. 23, so these were the selection spots that Holder went with in his recent re-draft.
With the 11th pick, the Vikings stuck with McCarthy despite Michael Penix Jr. still being available (we'll get to that shortly). Then it came time for Minnesota to use pick No. 23, and with the selection, Holder had them adding former Texas defensive lineman Byron Murphy II.
Murphy, who was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the 16th overall pick in the real 2024 NFL Draft, is someone who was mentioned a bunch as a fit for the Vikings during the pre-draft process. Measuring at 6-feet and 306 pounds, Murphy is an extremely athletic defender (9.23 relative athletic score) who would have likely made an immediate impact for Minnesota as an interior pass rusher.
Murphy might have actually been who the Vikings wanted to add with their second selection in this year's draft, but he was already off the board by the time Minnesota made a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars to move up from pick No. 23 to pick No. 17.
That 17th overall selection is what the Vikings used to pick Turner in the real 2024 NFL Draft, but in this re-draft, the former Alabama pass rusher wasn't available when it came time for Minnesota to make its second selection in the first round.
Instead, Holder has the Atlanta Falcons using the No. 8 pick on Turner. Of course, in the real 2024 draft, the Falcons passed on the former Alabama edge rusher and made the shocking decision to use the eighth overall selection on Penix.
If this re-draft was how things actually turned out, Vikings fans would have likely been just as excited about the team coming out of the first round with McCarthy and Murphy as they were with the selections that Minnesota actually made with its first two picks in this year's NFL Draft.