Minnesota Vikings potential draft pick: Cody Ford

The need for offensive linemen is clearly a priority for the Minnesota Vikings. With the lack of talent at the desired position, the Vikings will have slim pickings when it comes to the draft and free agency. Luckily, Minnesota may have fell at the right spot in the draft in terms of filling its needs.

After Minnesota’s chance to make the playoffs came to an end when the Vikings lost against Chicago, the Vikings are expected to have the 18th pick in the draft. The debate usually comes up whether a team should go the route of picking the best player available at the time of the pick, or to fill the need at a certain position.

This is the year Minnesota must draft based on its need at a given position.

The first round pick for the Vikings could very well be Oklahoma lineman Cody Ford. Ford said he will not go back to Oklahoma to play his senior season and will enter the draft. That’s good news for Minnesota considering that’s one more player that can help on the line.

The reason I said ‘lineman’ is because Ford has the ability to play both guard and tackle. He played left guard during his 2016 and 2017 season. He then moved over and played right tackle in 2018. Ford did break his leg early in his 2016 season, and had a banged up year in 2017.

Just based on his ability to play multiple positions on the line is beneficial for the Vikings, simply on how the line has the reputation to be banged up at times.

The only downside to him declaring for the draft during his junior year is scouts, teams and fans only have seen Ford play one whole healthy season. But, if you were to ask someone like Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari if that was the right move, he’d probably say yeah, just because of the stellar year and attention Ford received during his junior year at OU.

The six-foot-four-inch, 338 pound Pineville, Louisiana native earned himself a spot on the All-Big 12 team this past season. He was also apart of the offensive line at Oklahoma that won the Joe Moore Award for having the best O-line in college football.

Charlie Campbell, senior draft analyst with WalterFootball.com has Ford as the number one ranked guard in the upcoming draft class. That’s pretty interesting considering his one healthy year he’s played at right tackle, not guard. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. has him ranked third.

Again, just to wrap things up, I think he would be a good fit considering he can play both the guard and the tackle position. I’d rather take someone who can be versatile, as opposed to someone who will be stationary at one position.

Oh, and based off this lil’ clip, he’s not afraid to be physical by any means. If you’re a big follower of college or Sooner football, let me know you’re thoughts of him down in the comments.