Mock draft season is upon us and that means our mock draft roundup is back!
What we do every week is track the mainstream outlets mock drafts and aggregate how many times a player gets selected. Last season, we tallied up 545 mock drafts and that included a whopping 54 different players. With the Minnesota Vikings set to pick 11th overall, there will be a lot of discussions surrounding the quarterbacks in this draft along with trading up.
We will track them and try to determine trends and patterns, along with giving my own analysis on how they could fit with the Vikings.
UCLA EDGE Laiatu Latu
Who:
Bleacher Report’s Scouting Staff
SB Nation’s JP Acosta
Fantasy Pros’ Andrew Erickson
Fantasy Pros’ Matthew Jones
Minnesota’s front seven could use significant reinforcements. An investment in the draft class’ best pure pass-rusher, UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, would be a good start.
Even if the Vikings bring one or two of their free agents back into the fold, there are caveats. Hunter turns 30 later this year, and Davenport dealt with injuries last season. An infusion of youth should serve the Vikings’ defensive front well.-BR
Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy
Who:
Philadelphia Inquirer’s Devin Jackson
USA Today’s Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz
The 33rd Team’s Connor Livesay
CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso
Vikings Wire’s Saivion Mixson
Yahoo! Sports’ Charles McDonald and Nate Tice
Pro Football Network’s Ian Cummings
Steelers Wire’s Curt Popejoy
This is one of the few spots where slotting J.J. McCarthy makes sense in the first round. At Michigan, McCarthy thrived off play-action passes and moving the pocket, a similar scheme to what Kevin O’Connell runs in Minnesota. With Kirk Cousins’ future in question, the Vikings need to find a backup plan at quarterback.-Jackson
Alabama EDGE Dallas Turner
Who:
NFL.com’s Chad Reuter
The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner
Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley
For The Win’s Christian D’Andrea
Pro Football Network’s Joe Broback
Falcons Wire’s Matt Urben
Fantasy Pros’ Mike Fanelli
Patriots Wire’s Jordy McElroy
Assuming Kirk Cousins re-signs with the Vikings, the team takes Turner to replenish its soon-to-be depleted pass-rush depth. Minnesota makes its move for a quarterback in Round 2, trading fourth-, fifth- and sixth-round picks to Carolina to swap second-round picks and grab Oregon’s Bo Nix as Cousins’ successor.-Reuter
Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry
Who:
Pro Football Network’s Tony Catalina
Pro Football Network’s Anthony Miller
His teammate went two picks earlier, but take nothing away from Kool-Aid McKinstry here, as he is a star in his own right. Smooth, productive, and a stellar athlete are all accurate ways to describe the former Crimson Tide cornerback. The Minnesota Vikings add to their secondary with a Bama CB, and it feels like a nice player/team fit.-Catalina
Iowa CB Cooper DeJean
Who:
Pro Football Network’s James Fragoza
Pro Football Network’s Oliver Hodgkinson
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy
Buccaneers Wire’s River Wells
Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar
As you’d expect from an Iowa DB, he’s a plus-run defender, stellar in zone coverage, and technically refined. Having him on the outside immediately opens up the playbook for DC Brian Flores, who was already in his bag without strong corners this season.-Fragoza
Florida State EDGE Jared Verse
Who:
Barstool Sports’ Liam Blutman
Barstool Sports’ Steven Cheah
Fantasy Points’ Brett Whitefield
ESPN’s Field Yates
NFL.com’s Dan Parr
San Diego Union Tribune’s Eddie Brown
Panthers Wire’s Anthony Rizzuti
Danielle Hunter is coming off a 16.5 sack season but he’s also a free agent. Verse can represent a huge cost savings if they decide to retain Kirk Cousins.-Cheah
Alabama CB Terrion Arnold
Who:
CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell
Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt
CBS Sports’ Kyle Stackpole
Sports Illustrated’s Luke Easterling
Terrion Arnold is the hands-down top defensive back in this class, and he goes to a team in desperate need of a true CB1 to anchor the back end of Brian Flores’ blitz-heavy defense (50.7% blitz rate, highest in the NFL). At 6-0 and weighing 196 pounds, Arnold won consistently in the SEC. The First-Team All-American co-led the conference with five interceptions and lead the entire SEC in targets ending with an incompletion (43). Arnold also didn’t allow a touchdown on 445 coverage snaps last season.-Podell
Toledo CB Quinyon Mitchell
Who:
CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson
The Ringer’s Benjamin Solak
Mitchell is long, fluid and was a pass-breakup machine at Toledo. And that’s exactly who he was at the Senior Bowl — to the point that he’ll be in the CB1 conversation.-Wilson
North Carolina QB Drake Maye
Who:
Minnesota has perused the rookie quarterback market over the past few years and has not been in a position to pounce. I tend to think New England WILL draft a quarterback, but the possibility that it is not in love with the quarterback prospects available has to be considered. In this instance, the Patriots give the Vikings the heir apparent to Kirk Cousins.-Edwards
Georgia TE Brock Bowers
Who:
Coach Kevin O’Connell loves featuring the tight end, and T.J. Hockenson (ACL and MCL surgery) won’t be ready when the 2024 season starts. Why not go “best player available anyway”? Especially if Kirk Cousins is re-signed. -Serby
Overview
Through the seventh week of the 2024 calendar year, we have collected 175 mock drafts with 19 different players having been sent to the Vikings. In the last week, there were 10 players across 42 mock drafts.
| Player | January 1 |
| EDGE Jared Verse | 27 |
| EDGE Dallas Turner | 23 |
| EDGE Laiatu Latu | 21 |
| DT Jer’Zhan Newton | 16 |
| CB Terrion Arnold | 14 |
| QB Michael Penix Jr. | 13 |
| QB J.J. McCarthy | 13 |
| CB Cooper DeJean | 11 |
| QB Jayden Daniels | 8 |
| CB Kool-Aid McKinstry | 8 |
| CB Nate Wiggins | 5 |
| QB Bo Nix | 4 |
| DT Byron Murphy II | 3 |
| EDGE Chop Robinson | 2 |
| QB Drake Maye | 2 |
| CB Quinyon Mitchell | 2 |
| OT Olu Fashanu | 1 |
| QB Caleb Williams | 1 |
| TE Brock Bowers | 1 |
| Total | 175 |
