What does he see beyond Round 1?
It takes a great deal of dedication. . .or some serious levels of boredom. . .to attempt to project all 257 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. Fortunately, Dane Brugler of The Athletic was recently possessed by either one or the other, as he’s released a full seven-round mock in an attempt to see how things could play out next week.
Most mocks, for good reason, only focus on the first round or two, so a seven-round mock gives us an opportunity to find some names that don’t get tossed around too much. We obviously can’t bring you all 257 picks here, but we will take a look at what he’s projected for our Minnesota Vikings.
First off, Brugler does have the Vikings trading up to #4 with the Arizona Cardinals to select Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. He has the Vikings sending both of their first-round picks this year, #11 and #23, as well as a 2025 third-round pick, preserving the Vikings’ first-round pick in next year’s Draft. That would be a great trade if the Vikings could swing it. Would Arizona accept that? I don’t know. . .honestly, I’m not sure if they would. . .but in Brugler’s mock they did just that.
The Vikings then don’t pick again until the fourth round, where they have two selections. With those picks, Brugler has the Vikings addressing the lines on both sides. Duke defensive tackle DeWayne Carter is his selection at #108 overall, and he follows that up with the selection of South Dakota State guard Mason McCormick at #129 overall. McCormick started a lot of games for the Jackrabbits and was an FCS All-American for the two-time FCS champs and would provide some quality depth up front at the very least. Carter was more of a 3-technique at Duke and I’m not sure how he’d fit into Brian Flores’ defense, but I’m sure that Flores would find a role for him in short order.
With the team’s two fifth-round selections, Brugler has the Vikings taking CFL cornerback Quan’tez Stiggers at #157 overall and Connecticut edge defender Eric Watts. . .not that Eric Watts, wrestling fans. . .at #167. Stiggers has had quite an interesting path to this point. He originally attended Lane College in Tennessee on a football scholarship but later dropped out following the passing of his father. He then tried out for the Fan Controlled Football League in 2022 and made one of their squads, and from there moved on to play for the Toronto Argonauts this past season.
Stiggers was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie and an Eastern Conference All-Star in his lone CFL campaign and is now trying to take his talents to the NFL. Given the Vikings’ issues at cornerback, he’d be a pretty nice addition to the squad, I think.
With the team’s lone sixth-round pick, Brugler has the Vikings selecting Texas A&M wide receiver Ainias Smith at #177 overall. Smith is a smaller receiver, checking in at 5’9” and around 190 pounds but was a first-team All-SEC performer this past season in part because of his return abilities on special teams. With the new kick return rules, the Vikings could be in the market for a guy that can bring them something in that aspect of the game while potentially bringing more to the offense than Kene Nwangwu has over the past few seasons.
With the Vikings’ two selections in the seventh round, Brugler rounds out their draft with Texas El-Paso linebacker Tyrice Knight at #230 overall and North Carolina State center Dylan McMahon at #232.
And there you have a complete seven-round mock draft for the Minnesota Vikings, folks. It’s probably hard to gauge without being able to see all of the picks (although you can if you’re a subscriber to The Athletic), but what do you think about how this draft came out?
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