Vikings named draft fit for top rated safety in NFL Draft

The Vikings' free agency has been a mixed bag of promising, cheap signings, but also some key losses. The team is without a full-blown general manager, but in the interim, Rob Brzezinski has done well to navigate a tough salary cap situation, as well as retain key players. One player that remains up in the air for them is the safety position due to the status of Harrison Smith.

The veteran safety and likely future Hall of Famer remains undecided on his playing status for the 2026 season, so the team is consistently mocked a safety for this month's draft. That is why, when ESPN's Matt Bowen discussed his favorite teams for the top 20 prospects in the NFL Draft. For the Vikings, we often see safety Dillon Thieneman attached to them but he went with another safety in Toledo's Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.

Bowen explains his choice, writing, "McNeil-Warren is ideal for coordinator Brian Flores' scheme, which focuses on creating chaos for opposing offenses with late movement and pressure. Flores and the Vikings played two-high coverage on 56. 5% of opponent dropbacks last season, the second most in the league.

McNeil-Warren has the explosive forward ability to drive on the ball from the deep half or a "quarters" alignment. And he has the range to track it deep. Flores will also use his third-level defenders on pressure concepts; Minnesota's defensive back blitz rate of 15.