How Week 1 of college football impacts Minnesota Vikings potential NFL Draft strategy
One of the intriguing elements about building an NFL roster is dealing with the enigma that is the NFL Draft. You prepare for classes to be weak or strong at certain positions based on the season prior, so the 2025 class is based on the 2023 season. The difficulty of that process is that so […]
One of the intriguing elements about building an NFL roster is dealing with the enigma that is the NFL Draft. You prepare for classes to be weak or strong at certain positions based on the season prior, so the 2025 class is based on the 2023 season. The difficulty of that process is that so much can change over the course of one season.
We saw that happen over Labor Day weekend with the first weekend of college football and a lot of different elements shifted out focus on who is good and who isn't.
Tetairoa McMillan and Travis Hunter spark heavy discussion about taking a WR
The top of the first round is loaded with a lot of talent at both defensive line and cornerback. One of the players who has stood out in a big way is Michigan cornerback Will Johnson.
Coming into the season, Johnson was viewed as the top cornerback by many analysts and some even had him as the top player in the class going into the season. He didn't have the most consistent game, but he did have a pick six late to help seal the deal.
Cornerback is a very deep position going into the season and one of those cornerbacks also plays wide receiver in Travis Hunter. He was excellent against North Dakota State on Thursday night, but it wasn't his proficiency at cornerback that stood out. It was how successful he was as a wide receiver.
Hunter didn't just play well at wide receiver, he was dominant in multiple ways. Hunter tied for a team-high with seven catches for 132 yards and three touchdowns. One of those touchdowns saw Hunter fight through a defender in a major way to secure the catch.
One of the biggest question marks surrounding Hunter had going into the 2024 season was his lack of physical play strength. It may still be an issue, but seeing plays like this shifts the conversation tenfold.
The other receiver who dominated over the weekend was Tetairoa McMillan of Arizona. He didn't just play well for the Wildcats on Saturday night, he was historic in catching 10 passes for a school-record 304 yards and four touchdowns. It was the first 300 yard performance in college football since the Rose Bowl on January 1st, 2022 when Jaxon Smith-Njigba broke the 300-yard mark against Utah.
McMillan was incredible in many ways for the Wildcats but what really stood out was how smooth of a mover he was at 6-foot-5 and 210 lbs.
Players his size shouldn't be able to move like that. Going into the season, I saw McMillan as a fringe top-five prospect and that belief has only gotten stronger. Guys his size that can move like that are once-in-a-generation type prospects.
What about the defensive line?
These wide receiver prospects don't necessarily mean anything about the quality of defensive line prospects. There are a lot of quality players in the trenches for the Vikings to pursue, they just didn't stand out in the same way that the receiver prospects did. Guys like Deone Walker, Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant are all still players to watch.
The idea behind wide receiver for the Vikings in the first round is about taking talented players and not worrying about the position. Is that the best strategy? Well, it can work. That's exactly how the Vikings ended up with Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss in 1998 and future Hall of Fame running back Adrian Peterson in 2007.
These players might not fit an immediate need for the Vikings, but they can help elevate the roster more than you might think.
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