| 5 | Free Agents |
| 12 | Draft Picks |
| 13 | Undrafted Free Agents |
| 4 | Refugees from the Alliance of American Football |
The free agent number is light but that was expected with the team's current salary cap situation. Perhaps that's the reason general manager Rick Spielman went on a third-round trading spree to boost the number of draft picks to 12.
Free Agents
| DT | Shamar Stephen |
| G | Josh Kline |
| G | Dakota Dozier |
| WR | Jordan Taylor |
The signing of Shamar Stephen doesn't feel like a free agent addition as he was a 2015 draft pick of the Vikings. He spent last season in Seattle after four seasons in Minnesota. It's as if he never left at all.
Stephen and Josh Kline are the only free agent additions that are probably penciled in as starters. Keeping those spots is far from assured for either.
The biggest move in free agency was bringing back linebacker Anthony Barr. He was on his way to the New York Jets on a bigger deal but decided that he really wanted to stay in Minnesota. The Vikings didn't have the cap room to be active in free agency even before they somehow pulled off that move. They really had no room after. That didn't matter. Free agency was a win with Barr still on the team.
Draft Picks
1. Garrett Bradbury, C, North Carolina State
2. Irv Smith Jr., TE, Alabama
3. Alexander Mattison, RB, Boise State
4. Dru Samia, OG, Oklahoma
5. Cameron Smith, LB, USC
6. Armon Watts, DT, Arkansas
6. Marcus Epps, S, Wyoming
6. Olisaemeka Udoh, OT, Elon
7. Kris Boyd, CB, Texas
7. Dillon Mitchell, WR, Oregon
7. Olabisi Johnson, WR, Colorado State
7. Austin Cutting, LS, Air Force
Drafting players with a legitimate shot to make the roster is always an objective. The Vikings have a talented roster. They also have a top-heavy roster. They have several players with big contracts. That means that they have to have a lot of players with smaller contracts on the roster making an impact. The majority of those players are drafted players on their rookie deals. The Vikings need as many of their 2019 draft picks to make the team as possible. It's still so early in the process and we've yet to see the rookies on the field with the veterans. Still, I can see scenarios in which each of the 12 draft picks make the 53-man roster. It's no stretch to see the first eight players drafted making it. It'll be tough for two seventh-round receivers to make it but the competition for position spots behind Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen is wide open. The opportunity is there.
Undrafted Free Agents
Micah Abernathy, S, Tennessee
Terrence Alexander, CB, LSU
Khari Blasingame, FB, Vanderbilt
Jake Browning, QB, Washington
Davion Davis, WR, Sam Houston State
Brandon Dillon, TE, Marian
Alexander Hollins, WR, Eastern Illinois
Stacy Keely, DE, UAB
John Keenoy, C, Western Michigan
Nate Meadors, CB, UCLA
Tito Odenigbo, DT, Miami
Anree Saint-Amour, DE, Georgia Tech
Isaiah Wharton, CB, Rutgers
No matter how unlikely it seems, fun roster surprises often come out of the undrafted group of players. I really think that Jake Browning has a solid shot at making the team. Micah Abernathy, Khari Blasingame, Nate Meadors, and Isaiah Wharton are a few of the players that intrigue me.
AAF Refugees
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It's hard too say what the Vikings have in the AAF players. Each played well in the now-defunct league but the NFL is a whole other level. Each has experience in NFL camps but only Derron Smith has any game time in the league. With little to no depth behind starting safeties Harrison Smith and Anthony, Smith has the best opportunity to make the 53-man roster.
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