News Vikings Team Notes

[Minnesota Vikings]

Four Vikings Picked in PFF’s First Round 2015 Redraft

Vikings’ historic draft quantified in PFF redraft

It’s no secret for Minnesota Vikings’ fans that the 2015 draft turned out pretty well for the Purple. It was easily Rick Spielman’s best draft and one of the best drafts in franchise history.

The Picks​

The Vikings didn’t hit on every pick, but where they hit, they hit it big. The Vikings’ 2015 draft class:

• CB Trae Waynes (#11)
• LB Eric Kendricks (#45)
• DE Danielle Hunter (#88)
• OT T.J. Clemmings (#110)
• TE Mycole Pruitt (#143)
• WR Stefon Diggs (#146)
• OT Tyrus Thompson (#185)
• DE B.J. DuBose (#193)
• OT Austin Shepard (#228)
• OLB Edmund Robinson (#232)

Trae Waynes proved to be a serviceable starting cornerback but never lived up to his draft status. He ultimately made more money not playing for the Bengals for two seasons ($30 million) than he made playing five seasons for the Vikings ($22 million).

Eric Kendricks proved to be a solid core defender, prolific tackler, defensive playcaller, team captain, Pro Bowler and First-Team All-Pro. He was signed to a lucrative second contract before ultimately being let go after the 2022 season as his production no longer matched his salary cap.

Danielle Hunter proved to be one of the best pass rushers in the league since being drafted and ten years and 109 sacks later is still producing at a high level. Rick Spielman actually traded down twice from the #76 pick to #80 and then to #88 before selecting Hunter. He’s been a five-time Pro Bowler, Second-Team All-Pro, and team captain. The Vikings signed him to what turned out to be a bargain second contract (5-year, $72MM, $14.4MM AAV). That proved to be an issue in the last years of that contract, and the Vikings did renegotiate it for the 2023 season. But ultimately the Vikings got a premier edge rusher for nine seasons for just over $10 million/year, which was quite a bargain. The Vikings opted to sign Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel rather than spend about the same amount to extend Hunter in 2024.

T.J. Clemmings was the ultimate RAS pick that never panned out. He had all the measurables to be an elite tackle but was raw in his skillset and never really developed. He was forced into a starting position well before he was ready due to injury, which didn’t help either.

Mycole Pruitt only lasted a little over the year with the Vikings but has managed to carve out a nice little NFL career for himself and is still playing ten years and ten million dollars later. That’s way above average for a fifth-round pick.

One fifth-round pick that’s done better than Pruitt is Stefon Diggs, one of the best fifth-round picks in NFL history. He has been one of the most productive receivers since entering the league and the best offensive player of the 2015 draft class. He’s averaged over 1,000 receiving yards/season since he was drafted and was a four-time Pro Bowler, First-Team and Second-Team All-Pro, and led the league in receptions and receiving yards in 2020.

Diggs has proven to be discontented at times with every team he’s been with, and that led to the Vikings trading him to Buffalo in 2019. But that #146 pick in 2015 has proven to be a gift that keeps on giving for the Vikings as Rick Spielman traded Diggs for what turned out to be Justin Jefferson and a couple other players.

Tyrus Thompson, B.J. DuBose, and Austin Shepard didn’t pan out but Edmond Robinson stayed in the league for seven seasons until 2021, bouncing around several teams mainly as a special teamer with some stints on practice squads.

The Vikings also acquired safety Anthony Harris as an undrafted free agent in 2015, who later became the highest graded starting safety in the league by PFF over the 2018-2019 seasons and led the league in interceptions in 2019.

The PFF Redraft​

In the PFF 2015 Redraft, they chose four Vikings as first round picks. They include:

• #1 overall Stefon Diggs
• #3 overall Danielle Hunter
• #12 overall Eric Kendricks
• #27 overall Anthony Harris

To provide some context about how much draft value the Vikings realized in this redraft compared to the actual draft, the four players PFF selected in their redraft cost the Vikings 623 points in the Jimmy Johnson Draft Value Chart.

Their value in the PFF redraft was 7,080.

That’s an extra 6,457 points of value in Jimmy Johnson’s chart.

For context, that’s more extra value than the entirety of the last four Vikings’ draft classes combined- 5,983.2 points.

So, yeah, 2015 was a pretty good draft for the Vikings.

Source: https://www.dailynorseman.com/2025/7/7/24463270/four-vikings-picked-in-pffs-first-round-2015-redraft

 

[Minnesota Vikings]

Vikings Well-Represented in ESPN’s List of Best Draft Picks

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

And there were a lot of picks

We’ve got yet another re-draft of sorts, courtesy of the folks from ESPN, and its pretty unique concept has a lot of purple on it.

Ben Solak of ESPN went through NFL Draft history and determined the best draft pick in NFL history at every draft slot in the “common era,” all the way from #1 overall to #262 overall. That era stretches from 1967 to 2024, so there was obviously quite a bit of work that went into this. So, we’ll take a brief look at all of the members of the Minnesota Vikings who made the cut.

In the first round, Vikings’ draft picks appear four times, starting with Adrian Peterson at #7 overall.

The last non-quarterback to win the MVP award, Peterson led the league in rushing yardage three times in his career: 2008, 2012 and 2015. That’s a testament to both his excellence — the next most recent players with at least three seasons of league-leading production are Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith — and his longevity. Three times over an eight-year span!

“All Day” was my pick over Champ Bailey, but watch out for Josh Allen. He and Peterson have the same number of MVP trophies and Super Bowl appearances ... for now.

The next one is a no-brainer, as Hall of Famer Alan Page checks in at the #15 pick.

The lone Hall of Famer selected with the 15th pick and our oldest player in Round 1, Page rocks. He was the only defensive player to win MVP besides Lawrence Taylor, and he did it before him. He went to Notre Dame and the University of Minnesota after retirement, got his law degree and became an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. This shouldn’t really matter in the “best draft pick” debate, but it makes it an even more fun pick.

Next is another obvious one at #21, as another Hall of Famer drafted by the Vikings shows up. I’m speaking, of course, of Randy Moss.

Moss’ dominance came not in the form of yardage (26th all time in receiving yards per game), but in scoring (his 156 TD receptions are second all time). He led the league in receiving touchdowns five times and set the single-season record with his 23 scores for the Patriots in 2007. He gets the bump for being an iconic, culture-defining player as well.

The last Viking to appear in the first round on Solak’s list is still active, as it appears Justin Jefferson is already the best player in NFL history to be drafted at #22 overall.

Thank goodness there were no Hall of Famers to snub with the 22nd pick, making Jefferson an even easier selection for me. Never forget that Jefferson holds the record for most receiving yards through two seasons of a player’s career (3,016) — as well as through three seasons (4,825), four seasons (5,899) and five seasons (7,432). Guess which record he’ll hold at the end of this year?

If you’re scoring at home, if Jefferson manages to collect at least 944 yards this season, he’ll pass Randy Moss for the most receiving yardage in a player’s first six seasons as well.

Only one Vikings’ draft selection appeared in the second round, as offensive lineman Ed White took the #39 overall spot.

The hardest hairs to split in compiling this list were between two players whose best play predated my existence. Such was the case between White, who played 17 seasons for the Vikings and Chargers, and Darryl Talley, a Bills pass rusher who retired the year before I was born. White had a couple more Pro Bowl honors, so he gets the pick here.

I’ll just list the rest of the Vikings draft picks who made it onto the list here.

• #100 - Everson Griffen, DE
• #167 - Bobby Bryant, CB
• #173 - Matt Birk, C (he went to Harvard)
• #186 - Carl Lee, CB
• #220 - Shamar Stephen, DT
• #227 - Brad Johnson, QB
• #241 - Terry Allen, RB
• #259 - Stu Voigt, TE

By my count, that gives the Vikings 13 of the 262 selections that were deemed as the “best pick” at their draft slots in NFL history. If these picks were evenly divided between the 32 NFL teams, each one would have right around eight picks on the list, so the Vikings are well above average in that regard.

Not only have the Vikings managed to hit on some early picks the way you’d hope they would, as noted by the four players who appear in the first round, but they’ve hit on some pretty significant gems late as well.

I’m not sure how many current Vikings are poised to potentially claim spots on this list from the people who currently have them. As much as I want J.J. McCarthy to be successful, he’s got a little bit of work to do in order to claim the #10 spot, which is currently occupied by some guy named Patrick Mahomes. He’s alright, I guess.

All in all, a neat little exercise from the folks from Bristol, and it gives us something else to talk about as we get into the final stretch leading up to training camp.

Source: https://www.dailynorseman.com/2025/...-well-represented-espns-list-best-draft-picks