Minnesota Vikings First Round Draft History

The first round of the 2024 NFL Draft may have been the most aggressive in Minnesota Vikings franchise history. With Kirk Cousins departing for the Atlanta Falcons, it was expected that the Vikings would do everything necessary to come out of the first round with a quarterback. Expectations further increased when they acquired a second pick in the first round in a trade with the Houston Texans. Two first round picks (#11 and #23), a desperate need for a quarterback, and scattered needs on defense. The Vikings were in position to be aggressive, very aggressive. They were. They traded up one spot, from #11 to #10, to secure Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. If they’d come out of the first round with only McCarthy, it would’ve been a franchise-changing opening night to the draft. The Vikings had never before selected a quarterback in the Top 10 of a draft. They weren’t done. They still had the #23 pick. That pick was supposed to have been used to secure that quarterback. It was preserved and available to address other needs. Vikings jumped from #23 to #17 to select Alabama outside linebacker Dallas Turner. He wasn’t supposed to be available anywhere near the 17th pick. He was universally considered one of the best defensive players in the draft and an easy Top 10 pick. In McCarthy and Turner, the Vikings added potential cornerstone players. Three trades, two elite football players, it’s the most aggressive first I’ve seen from the Vikings. Thinking about this exciting first round has me thinking about past first rounds. Perhaps, thinking about the past calms my anticipation of the future. Who knows? Anyway, the Minnesota Vikings have been taking part in the NFL Draft for 64 years. In those 64 drafts, the Vikings have selected 67 players in the first round. Here are those first round selections:

1961: Tommy Mason, RB, Tulane
1962: No Pick
1963: Jim Dunaway, DT, Mississippi
1964: Carl Eller, DE, Minnesota
1965: Jack Snow, WR, Notre Dame
1966: Jerry Shay, DT, Purdue
1967: Clinton Jones, RB, Michigan State
          Gene Washington, WR, Michigan State
          Alan Page, DT, Notre Dame
1968: Ron Yary, OT, USC
1969: No Pick
1970: John Ward, OT, Oklahoma State
1971: Leo Hayden, RB, Ohio State
1972: Jeff Siemon, LB, Stanford
1973: Chuck Foreman, RB, Miami
1974: Fred McNeill, LB, UCLA
          Steve Riley, OT, USC
1975: Mark Mullaney, DT, Colorado State
1976: James White, DT, Oklahoma State
1977: Tommy Kramer, QB, Rice
1978: Randy Holloway, DE, Pittsburgh
1979: Ted Brown, RB, North Carolina State
1980: Doug Martin, DE, Washington
1981: No Pick
1982: Darrin Nelson, RB, Stanford
1983: Joey Browner, S, USC
1984: Keith Millard, DE, Washington State
1985: Chris Doleman, LB, Pittsburgh
1986: Gerald Robinson, DE, Aubrun
1987: D.J. Dozier, RB, Penn State
1988: Randall McDaniel, OG, Arizona State
1989: No Pick
1990: No Pick
1991: No Pick
1992: No Pick
1993: Robert Smith, RB, Ohio State
1994: DeWayne Washington, CB, North Carolina State
          Todd Steussie, OT, California
1995: Derrick Alexander, DE, Florida State
          Korey Stringer, OT, Ohio State
1996: Duane Clemons, DE, California
1997: Dwayne Rudd, LB, Alabama
1998: Randy Moss, WR, Marshall
1999: Daunte Culpepper, QB, Central Florida
          Dimitrius Underwood, DE, Michigan State
2000: Chris Hovan, DT, Boston College
2001: Michael Bennett, RB, Wisconsin
2002: Bryant McKinnie, OT, Miami
2003: Kevin Williams, DT, Oklahoma State
2004: Kenechi Udeze, DE, USC
2005: Troy Williamson, WR, South Carolina
           Erasmus James, DE, Wisconsin
2006: Chad Greenway, LB, Iowa
2007: Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma
2008: No Pick
2009: Percy Harvin, WR, Florida
2010: No Pick
2011: Christian Ponder, QB, Florida State
2012: Matt Kalil, OT, USC
          Harrison Smith, S, Notre Dame
2013: Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida
          Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida State
          Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee
2014: Anthony Barr, LB, UCLA
          Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville
2015: Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State
2016: Laquon Treadwell, WR, Mississippi
2017: No Pick
2018: Mike Hughes, CB, Central Florida
2019: Garrett Bradbury, C, North Carolina State
2020: Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU
          Jeff Gladney, CB, TCU
2021: Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech
2022: Lewis Cine, S, Georgia

2023: Jordan Addison, WR, USC

2024: J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan

          Dallas Turner, Edge, Alabama

A Breakdown:

Hall of Famers:
Carl Eller
Alan Page
Ron Yary
Chris Doleman
Randall McDaniel
Randy Moss
Adrian Peterson will join this list.

If I were to pick a past first round pick that hasn’t received the Hall of Fame consideration that he deserves, that player would be Chuck Foreman. There was a four-five year stretch in which he was arguably the best running back in the league. He was certainly the most versatile. He was such a fun back. 

Joey Browner and Keith Millard would be in Canton if injuries hadn’t whittled away at their career. 

By position:

Quarterbacks (5):
Tommy Kramer
Daunte Culpepper
Christian Ponder
Teddy Bridgewater

J.J. McCarthy

Running Backs (10):
Tommy Mason
Clinton Jones
Leo Hayden
Chuck Foreman
Ted Brown
Darrin Nelson
D.J. Dozier
Robert Smith
Michael Bennett
Adrian Peterson

Receivers (9):
Jack Snow
Gene Washington
Randy Moss
Troy Williamson
Percy Harvin
Cordarrelle Patterson
Laquon Treadwell
Justin Jefferson

Jordan Addison

Offensive Linemen (10):
Ron Yary
John Ward
Steve Riley
Randall McDaniel
Todd Steussie
Korey Stringer
Bryant McKinnie
Matt Kalil
Garrett Bradbury
Christian Darrisaw

Defensive Linemen (18):
Jim Dunaway
Carl Eller
Jerry Shay
Alan Page
Mark Mullaney
James White
Randy Holloway
Doug Martin
Keith Millard
Gerald Robinson
Derrick Alexander
Duane Clemons
Dimitrius Underwood
Chris Hovan
Kevin Williams
Keneche Udeze
Erasmus James
Sharrif Floyd

Linebackers (7):
Jeff Siemon
Fred McNeill
Chris Doleman
Dwayne Rudd
Chad Greenway
Anthony Barr

Dallas Turner

Cornerbacks (5):
DeWayne Washington
Xavier Rhodes
Trae Waynes
Mike Hughes
Jeff Gladney

Safeties (3):
Joey Browner
Harrison Smith
Lewis Cine

It’s interesting that defensive line is by far the most popular first round position but a defensive lineman hasn’t been selected in the first round since 2013. While not technically a defensive lineman, the Vikings did address their pass rushing this year with the selection of outside linebacker Dallas Turner. 

During the NFL-AFL bidding wars of the 1960s, drafted players had options. They could sign with the established NFL team that drafted them or they could sign with the newbie AFL team that drafted them. The Vikings lost 1963 first-round pick Jim Dunaway to the Buffalo Bills. He developed into an integral player on one of the best defenses in the AFL. He would’ve paired quite nicely with Alan Page in the middle of Vikings defensive line. Or, maybe the Vikings don’t draft Page if Dunaway is already playing well on the line. We’ll never know. 

The Vikings traded 1965 first-round pick Jack Snow to the Los Angeles Rams before he ever played a snap in Minnesota. Despite playing college football in the Midwest at Notre Dame, I believe Snow didn’t like the snow and wanted to play professionally closer to his Southern California home. 

If two can be a group, Lewis Cine joined an impressive group of safeties drafted in the first round. Here’s hoping that Cine matches the greatness of Joey Browner and Harrison Smith. He has the talent. So far, Cine is about as far from Browner and Smith as a player can be. 

Picks that thrilled me to the point of hyperventilation:
Joey Browner
Randall McDaniel
Dwayne Rudd
RANDY MOSS
Chris Hovan
Bryant McKinnie
Chad Greenway
Adrian Peterson
Percy Harvin
Harrison Smith
Anthony Barr
Teddy Bridgewater
Justin Jefferson

J.J. McCarthy

Dallas Turner

The selection of Randy Moss in 1998 damn near killed me.

Then, there’s this one. 
I had watched a lot of Darrin Nelson at Stanford and he was a terrific back. I was thrilled when the Vikings drafted him but my thrill was muted a bit by the fact that Marcus Allen was still available. I hadn't seen as much of Allen in college as I'd seen of Nelson but I'd seen enough. I knew that Allen was going to be the better professional running back but I did really like Nelson’s versatility in the Vikings offense. 

Picks that disappointed so, so much as players:
Dwayne Rudd
Bryant McKinnie

I was thrilled when both players were drafted but I can't remember ever being thrilled watching either play. Dwayne Rudd put more energy into celebrating routine plays than he ever put into actually making plays. For the entirety of his career, Bryant McKinnie simply showed no energy and no interest while he was on the field. He made one Pro Bowl, probably because Brett Favre made him look better than he was, and was sent home before the game was even played. Who does that? McKinnie being sent home from the Pro Bowl was less surprising than his being selected for the game. I've never been one to hate the players that play for the team that I love but I hated seeing these two players play for the Vikings. I was thrilled when both were drafted but I was more thrilled when they left.

On eleven occasions, the Vikings made multiple picks in the first round. The success with those multiple picks is wide-ranging. There’s the high of selecting Clinton Jones, Gene Washington, and Alan Page in 1967. There’s the brutal low of selecting Troy Williamson and Erasmus James in 2005. I’m expecting the first night haul of J.J. McCarthy and Dallas Turner will be closer to that of 1967 than 2005. 

On nine occasions, the Vikings made no selections in the first round. Four of those were the rough draft years of 1989-92. The Vikings traded their 1989 first round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for linebacker Mike Merriweather. That was a good trade. The Vikings traded their 1990-92 first round picks, several other picks, and several players to the Dallas Cowboys for Herschel Walker. That was a bad trade. A very bad trade.  

As a youngster in California, I fell for the Vikings in the early 1970s. The first draft that I really remember following was the 1976 draft that brought James and Sammy White to Minnesota. Thanks to the tremendous work of Joel Buschbaum, Paul Zimmerman, and Mel Kiper I gradually started to understand and appreciate the football fun of the NFL Draft.