2022 Minnesota Vikings Starters?

 While thinking about potential Minnesota Vikings starters this season I started thinking about their potential starters down the line a bit. I didn't look too far into the future because I only have the players currently on the roster to consider. I chose 2022 simply because it was close enough to make some reasonable guesses and it's the final year of Kirk Cousins' current contract. So, here's a wild stab at the Minnesota Vikings' 2022 starting lineup.

Offense

WR	Justin Jefferson
TE	Irv Smith Jr.
LT	Ezra Cleveland
LG	Kyle Hinton
C	Garrett Bradbury
RG	Dru Samia
RT	Brian O'Neill
WR	Adam Thielen
QB	Kirk Cousins
RB	Dalvin Cook
FB	C.J. Ham

Defense

DE	D.J. Wonnum
DT	James Lynch
NT	Michael Pierce
DE	Danielle Hunter
LB	Anthony Barr
LB	Eric Kendricks
LB	Troy Dye
CB	Jeff Gladney
CB	Cameron Dantzler
S	Harrison Smith
S	Josh Metellus

I'm only considering the Vikings' base defense in this little exercise.

Adam Thielen and Harrison Smith are the tough calls. I don't really want to think about a Vikings' lineup without either, especially Smith. Thielen will be 32 at the start of the 2022 season. Smith will be 33. Both playing in Minnesota in 2022 seems reasonable to me. With Smith there is also the question of Anthony Harris' future with the team. In this scenario, I went with the unfortunate possibility that Harris isn't re-signed after this season. There could be some salary cap issues come February and March. It'd be a beautiful thing to keep Smith and Harris together for a few more seasons. I'm hoping it happens but I'm not sure that it will. If it comes to a decision between Smith and Harris, I'm going with Smith, despite being a couple years older. I mean, it's Harrison "frickin" Smith.

By this, it looks like Dalvin Cook is getting that extension.

If these guesses are accurate, nine of the 15 players in the Vikings' monster 2020 draft class emerge as starters by year three.

Justin Jefferson

Ezra Cleveland

Kyle Hinton

D.J. Wonnum

James Lynch

Troy Dye

Jeff Gladney

Cameron Dantzler

Josh Metellus

That's a lot of contribution from a single draft class. And there could be more. Maybe K.J. Osborn returns kicks like Percy Harvin, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Marcus Sherels once did. Who knows, maybe Nate Stanley steps in for Cousins in 2023 and becomes the 10th starter from the 2020 draft class. 

2022 will be the eighth season of Danielle Hunter's Vikings career. He will be 27 at the start of that season. Incredible.