{"id":634977,"date":"2026-04-27T22:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T22:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/634977\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T22:49:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T22:49:15","slug":"minnesota-vikings-had-one-of-nfls-worst-draft-classes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/634977\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Vikings Had One of NFL\u2019s \u2018Worst\u2019 Draft Classes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, most analysts predicted that the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> would select Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman with the 18th overall pick in the first round. Of course, the Vikings didn\u2019t do the expected, instead selecting Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks in the first round.<\/p>\n

The Vikings didn\u2019t address the safety position until the third round, and they ended up selecting nine players in total, more than they had since 2022. Yet, many analysts felt like Minnesota\u2019s first selection was a reach, considering Banks has had multiple foot surgeries and was limited to just three games last season.<\/p>\n

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Banks had been projected as a second-round pick, but the Vikings feel like he has the talent to be worthy of a first-round pick. If healthy, they may be right.<\/p>\n

Yet, others, like The Athletic\u2018s Dane Brugler<\/a>, feel like the Vikings had one of the worst draft classes in the NFL this year, ranking 29th out of 32 teams.<\/p>\n

DT Caleb Banks \u2013 18th overall<\/p>\n

LB Jake Golday \u2013 51st overall<\/p>\n

DT Domonique Orange \u2013 82nd overall<\/p>\n

OT Caleb Tiernan \u2013 97th overall<\/p>\n

S Jakobe Thomas \u2013 98th overall<\/p>\n

FB\/TE Max Bredeson \u2013 159th overall<\/p>\n

CB Charles Demmings \u2013 163rd overall<\/p>\n

RB Demond Claiborne \u2013 198th overall<\/p>\n

iOL Gavin Gerhardt \u2013 235th overall<\/p>\n

However, it wasn\u2019t all bad. Brugler noted that Cincinnati<\/a> linebacker Jake Golday was his \u201cfavorite pick,\u201d believing he has a chance to make an immediate impact in the Vikings\u2019 Brian Flores-led defense.<\/p>\n

Brugler added that fifth-round cornerback Charles Demmings \u201ccould surprise\u201d throughout his NFL career, saying that the prospect \u201cleaves everything he has on the field.\u201d Overall, Brugler felt like Demmings is a \u201cworthy bet\u201d for the fifth round.<\/p>\n

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While he\u2019s admittedly a fan of Golday and Demmings, Brugler clearly didn\u2019t think much about the Vikings\u2019 draft class as a whole.<\/p>\n

Related: 4 Minnesota Vikings WR Targets After 2026 NFL Draft<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Headlines<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, most analysts predicted that the Minnesota Vikings would select Oregon safety Dillon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,169951,307445,10027,1239,593,85],"class_list":["post-634977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-caleb-banks","tag-charles-demmings","tag-cincinnati","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}