Chris’ Minnesota Vikings Mock Draft v6.0: License to Mock

By the time most of you get an opportunity to read this, it will officially be April, and that means it’s DRAFT MONTH, Y’ALL! That means only a few more weeks of rampant speculation and innuendo, and a few more mock drafts before we get to the end of the trail. This is good because. . .well, I’m running out of Bond movies that I can stick the word “mock” into and have it make even the tiniest bit of sense.

If you want to review my previous mocks, here is the full list:

• Mock #1 - Thundermock
• Mock #2 - You Only Mock Twice
• Mock #3 - Mockraker
• Mock #4 - Mocktor No
• Mock #5 - The Man With the Golden Mock

Once again, we jump into the FanSpeak On the Clock Mock Draft Simulator, giving yours truly the opportunity to simulate all seven glorious rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft and try to take a stab at what I think the Minnesota Vikings will do during this year’s selection meeting. So, without any further ado, let’s fire it up!

Here are the settings for my mock for this week:

• Big Board - Kingdom Connection (Brandon Norris), updated 31 March
• Other teams using random Big Boards
• Classic difficulty
• User-voted Team Needs (G, OT, LB, DL, WR, TE, EDGE, C)

Also, due to the lateness of the hour, I might not get quite as in-depth with the reasoning behind these picks as I usually might.

As a reminder, here are the eight selections we start the draft with:

There are no trade offers that come across before the picks begin to flow, and there aren’t any that come in when Pick #18 hits the board. Here’s what the Big Board looks like as we prepare to make our first selection:

Three offensive linemen have come off the board thus far: Cody Ford went to Green Bay at #12, Jawaan Taylor went to Carolina at #16, and Jonah Williams went to the New York Giants at #17. As you can see, this board is certainly different than some of the other ones we’ve used, and it looks like we can probably hold off until the second round on jumping about the offensive line train. So, let’s fill in what might be the Vikings’ second-biggest position of need.

Round 1, Pick 18 - Christian Wilkins, DT, Clemson

With the departure of Sheldon Richardson, the Vikings are going to need someone that can step in and provide disruption in the center of the defense next to Linval Joseph. Wilkins is exactly the guy that can provide that. He’s got outstanding speed and quickness for a guy that tipped the scales at the Scouting Combine at 315 pounds, and would immediately slot in as the three-technique tackle in the Vikings four-man defensive front.

As we get ready to start Round 2, a couple of trade offers roll in from a pair of AFC teams.

Let’s take the Chiefs’ offer, because two second rounders are better than one, am I right?

Two more trade offers roll in as we get ready to select twice in the span of three picks:

Sorry, guys. . .not interested.

Here’s the board:

Round 2, Pick 59 (from Kansas City) - Erik McCoy, C, Texas A&M

As we’ve talked about with some of the players that the Vikings could potentially take on the offensive line, it’s likely someone’s going to have to move. As I’ve said all along, I think it’s better to move Pat Elflein to a guard spot than it is to move Riley Reiff inside, largely because Elflein has played guard at a high level in college in the past. McCoy is going to be an outstanding zone-blocking center, and that’s what the Vikings are going to be doing going forward. So, he’s the guy.

Round 2, Pick 61 (from Kansas City) - Kelvin Harmon, WR, North Carolina State

I had thought about Deebo Samuel here, but he’s likely going to be more of a slot guy, and the Vikings don’t need more slot guys with Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs on the roster. That and New Orleans took him at #60. In Harmon, the Vikings are getting a bigger outside target (6’3”, 220 pounds) that can become a factor right away in the red zone and, in all likelihood, become a significant contributor in three-wide sets.

No trade offers to start Round 3, but we do get a couple as the time for our selection comes around.

Just for kicks, I take the Cardinals’ offer and drop all the way out of Round 3, picking up the first selection in the three subsequent rounds. This just seems like a Spielman move to me, so what the hey?

On to (virtual) Day 3 of the draft, where I’ve now managed to amass eight picks. . .two fourths, a fifth, three sixths, and two sevenths. Much like the wedding at the end of Spaceballs, we’re going to move on to the “short, short” version of this draft, as I’ll just put up the Big Board at the time of the pick as well as the selection, and I’ll be trying to fill the team needs from here on out as well.

Here’s how things look when we kick off Round 4.

Round 4, Pick 103 (from Arizona) - Benny Snell, RB, Kentucky

And for our second fourth-round pick, which is actually our own.

Round 4, Pick 120 - Jace Sternberger, TE, Texas A&M

Now on to Round 5, and our lone selection in this round with the pick we received from the Cardinals.

Round 5, Pick 139 (from Arizona) - Germaine Pratt, LB, North Carolina State

Back at the top of Round 6 with our final selection from the Arizona trade.

Round 6, Pick 174 (from Arizona) - Martez Ivey, OT, Florida

Next up, our second pick in the sixth round.

Round 6, Pick 190 - Sutton Smith, Edge, Northern Illinois

Last, our Compensatory selection in the sixth round.

Round 6, Pick 209 (Compensatory) - Gardner Minshew, QB, Washington State

Last, but not least, our two seventh-round Compensatory Selections, for which I’ll do one board for both.

Round 7, Pick 247 (Compensatory) - Mike Bell, S, Fresno State

Round 7, Pick 250 (Compensatory) - Tyler Bowling, G, Tulsa

So, here is my complete 11-man draft class for this simulation:

If you’d like to see how the entire draft unfolded, you can check out all 254 picks at this link here.

Let me know what you think, folks!