Vikings draft left me a little wanting

Well at least that's over. 

The 2023 NFL Draft was a new low in media and fan insufferability in the months leading up to it. Never before have I been so annoyed by the endless mocks, the endless "reports", the endless speculation. It's all such meaningless noise. Nobody who claims to know anything actually does. 

Once again we had a throng of Vikings fans, mostly the Skortards, who were maniacally insistent that the team simply MUST draft a quarterback. No team can succeed without a rookie contract QB (except, you know, all the ones that have).

I was all about one thing: Defense. I still have ptsd from watching Daniel Jones light up our hapless defense and end our season in January. And we still need more reinforcements for Brian Flores to work with this fall.

Turns out we all sort of got what we wanted, but also didn't. 

We went in with just 5 picks. A couple went out in the TJ Hockenson deal. A few others had gone in trades for Jalen Reagor, Ross Blacklock and the draft pick that became Akayleb Evans last year. 

So it was kind of assumed we would see some trading back to accumulate more picks. 

On night one the QB obsessives quickly saw their dreams of Anthony Richardson die. But as pick 23 approached, both Will Levis and Hendon Hooker remained. I was dreading the Vikings taking one of these most unimpressive prospects. 

There were a lot of tantalizing defensive options there, including a couple cornerbacks. Still, Kwesi opted to take a wide receiver to fill the gap left by Adam Thielen, specifically speedy USC wideout Jordan Addison. Addison was rated as a 1st round guy, so it's not like it was a reach. But I didn't like going offense there.

On day two, the Vikings were not going to pick until late anyway. And they picked even later when they traded down with the Chiefs to the day's very last spot. They grabbed an extra 5th for the trouble, then grabbed Addison's teammate, cornerback Mekhi Blackmon.

On day three, they grabbed Jay Ward from LSU, a defensive back listed as a safety but who can play anywhere. Later they grabbed another Tiger, beastly DT Jaquelin Roy. I love both these picks.

The headline of day three came with 5th round selection of BYU QB Jaren Hall. Well there is your QB. I trust KOC to tap into whatever talent Hall has, but drafting a QB this late means he definitely ain't taking over week 1 2024. If ever. Let's be real, 5th round QBs almost never become anything. 

The draft finished up with RB DeWayne McBride, who may be a nice find destined for the practice squad.

So we ended with 6 picks and half were offense. Not what I was expecting. Not what I hoped for. 

It's not even hating the players picked. I'm sure KOC can utilize Addison well. I just wanted as much defense as possible. 

If Addison replaces (and hopefully upgrades) over Thielen, this offense should again be one of the very best in the NFL. 

A lot rides on both these new defensive draft picks, but also on the successful returns of the injured DBs from the 2022 class. If most of that works out, Flores should be able to at minimum elevate the defense to adequacy. 

But that remains a pretty big IF, one this draft didn't quite give me peace of mind about.