Part 2: The Players — Vikings Draft Targets Come into Focus

Dylan Widger-Imagn Images So, you saw in Part One ( here ) of these articles the strategy I think the Vikings should take. I didn’t name names, but only the way I think they can get the best possible pick and impact player in the first round. I wanted to keep them separate to focus on one or the other.

This draft is top-heavy in my opinion. In 2025, there were a multitude of good-to-great players in the draft, giving most mock drafters a bevy of choices to mess around with. The Vikings’ Shortlist Is Starting to Take Shape In 2026, I feel that you take the best player available at your spot about mid-way through the 1st round and don’t reach too far up if you don’t need to.

This is a “draft for depth” in most eyes, which is the vibe I get from national pundits who do more work on this than I do. As I said previously, I think the Vikings should stay put at their current positions and wait for the outcome of the prior selections, and they will have a player available that the staff and fans can be happy with. The struggle I’ve had this year is that, when you look at most positions the team could go after, they have decent depth built up, except for a few areas that need shoring up.

They need players who can start right away or shortly into the season and make their depth look even better. Last year, there was an extremely deep running back class. That is not the case this year.