Minnesota Vikings mock draft roundup: Who do the experts have them taking?
MINNEAPOLIS — It's NFL draft season, which means it's also mock draft season.
Analysts from all over are peering into their crystal footballs to predict who's going where, which teams are trading up and which prospects are in for an unexpected fall.
The Minnesota Vikings are one of the more intriguing teams in the drafts. They have a lot of holes to fill, are reportedly in the quarterback market and have a general manager who's shown he's willing to wheel and deal. So let's take a look at what CBS Sports' experts think the Vikings will do come April 25.
Of CBS Sports' five experts, three of them have the Vikings taking a quarterback in the latest round of mock drafts. Chris Trapasso and Josh Edwards have them staying in the 11th slot and taking J.J. McCarthy out of Michigan. Ryan Wilson has them moving up to the fifth pick and grabbing Drake Maye out of North Carolina.
Interestingly, in Wilson's draft, McCarthy is already off the board. He's the third QB taken behind Caleb Williams (No. 1 to the Chicago Bears) and Jayden Daniels (No. 2 to the Washington Commanders). Maye has long been seen as the No. 2 QB in this class behind Williams, so the Vikings getting him as the fourth passer off the board would be a steal.
Wilson doesn't enumerate the details of the hypothetical trade, but moving into a top five pick wouldn't come cheap. If the Vikings view Maye as a franchise passer, though, it's hard to say it wouldn't be worth the cost.
McCarthy, meanwhile, has been linked to the Vikings for a while and has been rising up draft boards.
The two experts who don't have the Vikings picking a QB have them taking defensive players. Tom Fornelli gave them Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner, while Kyle Stackpole has them taking another Alabama defender, cornerback Terrion Arnold.
Turner is CBS Sports' No. 1 pass rusher. He had 22.5 sacks in three seasons with the Crimson Tide and was the 2023 SEC Defensive Player of the Year. The Vikings need pass rushers, particularly if Danielle Hunter signs with another team in free agency.
Arnold had five interceptions in his final college season and is CBS Sports' No. 2 cornerback in the class. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has spent a few high picks on the secondary in the past few drafts (safety Lewis Cine, cornerback Andrew Booth), but they haven't panned out, mostly due to injury. Arnold would certainly fill a need for the Vikings, who don't have much depth behind starting CB Byron Murphy Jr.
As of Tuesday, the Vikings have nine total picks in the draft, though that could change between now and the first round.