Minnesota Vikings Draft: Day 2

Since the NFL moved the Draft to a prime time event, I’ve raced home from work to catch the telecast. Day 1 and Day 2. I had to catch each from the start. This year was a bit different. This year was different because the Minnesota Vikings first pick on Day 2 was pick #87. That’s the 24th pick of the third round. The Vikings entered the draft with only five picks. After selecting USC receiver Jordan Addison with the 23rd pick of the first round, only four picks remained. The Vikings didn’t really have the picks to move up in any round. The 2023 NFL Draft was coming to them. I figured that there was about a 5-hour wait until the Vikings were on the clock. There was no need to rush home. I simply followed the draft by phone. There was no rush. 

The Vikings had no pick in the second round. That pick was passed to the Detroit Lions in the trade deadline deal for T.J. Hockenson. That’s a nice exchange. Addison in the first. Hockenson in the second. I’ll take it. It also meant that the Vikings would be observers for the entirety of the second round. Missing a round, any round, is always a tough deal. Then came the wait until the 24th pick of the third round. After 23 third-round picks, the Vikings were finally on the clock. Then they weren’t. The Vikings traded that long-awaited 87th pick to the San Francisco 49ers. A long wait for a Vikings pick became longer. 

The Vikings traded pick 87

The Vikings received pick 102, 164, and 222

The wait between Vikings picks was now 78 picks. More than two rounds. 

No matter the excitement over free agency, successful teams are built through the draft. When a team picks isn’t as important as how a team picks. The Vikings had two picks in the first 102 picks of the 2023 NFL Draft. #23 and #102. Both of the players played their final year of college football at USC. 

23.   Jordan Addison, WR, USC

102. Mekhi Blackmon, CB, USC

The Vikings had a cornerback need. Mekhi Blackmon wasn’t one of the leading contenders for an early round selection. There were bigger corners available. There were faster corners available. There were bigger names available. Despite all of that, it felt like the Vikings decision-makers had targeted Blackmon. He was a Top-30 visitor and even from a distance it felt like there was a connection. 

Blackmon had a circuitous route to the NFL. He wasn’t recruited out of Menlo-Atherton High so he went the JC route. He went to Julian Edelman’s old stomping ground of College of San Mateo. Blackmon played for four years at Colorado then really found himself as a football player during his final year of college at USC. During the draft telecast, Daniel Jeremiah mentioned that Blackmon routinely positioned himself in drills against Addison so that he could get better. It worked. 

If Mekhi Blackmon had played three years of college football like he played his final year of college football, he would’ve been a first-round pick. At 24, he’s older than most rookies but his best football years are in front of him.

Day 3 of the 2023 NFL awaits. The Vikings entered the draft with five picks. Thanks to the Day 2 deal, they enter Day 3 with five picks.