The 5 Frontrunners to Join the Vikings on Draft Night

The 5 Frontrunners to Join the Vikings on Draft Night

Nobody quite knows for sure who the Minnesota Vikings might lock in with their first draft selection, the 24th overall pick. The club could even trade down to nab more picks. It has just four as it stands on the weekend before the event.

But generally speaking, after three months of the draft’s build-up, these are the five frontrunners to join Minnesota’s roster on Thursday night, ranked in ascending order (No. 1 = Minnesota’s draft frontrunner).

5. Jahdae Barron (CB)
Texas

Barron checks in at No. 5 on this — so, the bottom — because he may not be on the board when Minnesota calls its pick into the podium.

Malaki Starks (S)
Georgia

Minnesota tried this three years ago — drafting a physically gifted safety from Georgia — and the strategy wholly and undeniably flopped. Lewis Cine flamed out after a couple of seasons, one of which ended with a gruesome leg fracture.

Grey Zabel (iOL)
North Dakota State

Under Adofo-Mensah, the Vikings don’t frequently draft players from smaller schools, but there’s a first time for everything.

Zabel has the rare ability to play nearly every position on a team’s offensive line, and Minnesota may ask him to do that, at times, for the duration of his rookie contract. To start, however, the Vikings would toss him in the left guard hole, currently manned by Blake Brandel.

Nick Emmanwori (S)
South Carolina

A simple rule of thumb on this year’s Round 1 safeties: the aforementioned Starks is the run-stopping safety, and Emmanwori is the pass-coverage guy.

His ball-tracking and receiver-menacing ways will cook in Flores’ defense. Emmanwori has also morphed into a mock draft favorite for Minnesota. About one of every three credible mock drafts you might click on this week will have Emmanwori linked to the purple team at No. 24.

Joe DeLeone on Emmanwori: “The NFL covets speed and size at every defensive position, meaning Emmanwori’s NFL Draft stock will be significantly boosted following his amazing showing at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine. With a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and a 43-inch vertical jump, Emmanwori arguably had the greatest testing performance by a safety ever in Indianapolis.”

“With so many boxes checked, Emmanwori is likely to be a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Even though the NFL typically doesn’t value safeties early in the draft, he still will be highly sought after and could be the first safety picked overall.”

That’ll work.

1. Derrick Harmon (DT)
Oregon

Vikings fans believe Harmon will be the Vikings’ first pick.

And then there were two.

As your Vikings draft prediction, whether they stay put or trade down, which player is more likely to be drafted by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in eight days?

This will be VikingsTwitter’s formal draft prediction.

— Dustin Baker (@DustBaker) April 16, 2025

The mock draft community is pretty set on Emmanowri, but because defensive tackle might be more of a long-term need if Minnesota is serious about building the trenches, Harmon gets the nod at No. 1.