All Picks Signed

With few restrictions on the contracts, the signing of draft picks used to be an annual challenge. Holdouts were frequent. The 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement changed all of that. It took an offseason lockout to get there but that agreement between the players and the owners made the signing of draft picks a scripted deal. Holdouts are now rare. Despite 15 years of relative draft-pick signing ease, I’m still amazed at how smooth the process has become. Perhaps I haven’t fully recovered from Bryant McKinnie’s 98-day holdout in 2002. Whatever the reason, I don’t rest easy until the Minnesota Vikings have all of their draft picks signed. There once was a year when the entire draft class was signed before the start of rookie minicamp. A week after the draft was held and the Vikings had all of their rookies under contract. It was beautiful. This year, it looked like it might happen again. 

The Vikings selected nine players in the 2026 NFL Draft

1. Caleb Banks, DL, Florida

2. Jake Golday, LB, Cincinnati

3. Domonique Orange, DL, Iowa State

3. Caleb Tiernan, OT, Northwestern

3. Jakobe Thomas, S, Miami

5. Max Bredeson, FB, Michigan

5. Charles Demmings, CB, Stephen F Austin

6. Demond Claiborne, RB, Wake Forest

7. Gavin Gerhardt, C, Cincinnati

In advance of the May 8 rookie minicamp, the Vikings signed eight of the nine draft picks. The only pick not signed was second-rounder Jake Golday. In recent years, the signings of players selected in the second round have become difficult. Agents have been trying to add some of the contract guarantees given to first-rounders to the second-rounders. The owners, of course, have been resistant to such a change. While it hasn’t resulted in holdouts, the pace of second-round signings has lagged behind those of all other rounds. It’s a trend the Vikings have avoided because they haven’t made a second-round selection since 2022. They had one this year and the they are finally a part of the contentious second-round negotiations. While I was thrilled that the Vikings had a pick in the second round, I was a little nervous about them being part of this new negotiation nonsense. Fortunately, those negotiations aren’t as contentious this year as they’ve been the past couple years. It appears teams and agents have finally worked out their differences as second-round signings are moving easier than first-round signings. While Jake Golday was the last of the draft picks to sign his first NFL contract, the Vikings signed their second-round pick yesterday. 

And with that, the Minnesota Vikings have signed all nine of their picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.