Minnesota Vikings confirmed how brutally wrong consensus was with No. 18 in the NFL Draft, and it’s what you want to see
The entire world thought the Minnesota Vikings were going to select Oregon S Dillon Thieneman…except the Minnesota Vikings.
Two selections in the first round of the NFL Draft shocked everyone:
- Los Angeles Rams selecting Alabama Crimson Tide QB Ty Simpson
- Minnesota Vikings selecting Florida Gators DT Caleb Banks
It’s a fascinating one for many reasons. We can talk about the foot injuries until all of us are blue in the face. In reality, the Vikings were comfortable with it, and only time will tell if they are right or wrong.
The pick itself is a really important signal of where the Vikings are going as a franchise.
Minnesota Vikings punked consensus again
When discussing the selection of Banks, there are a multitude of things to consider. First, it was far from a consensus selection. Banks was the seventh-highest player in this year’s mock draft tracker, tying him in placement with edge rusher Dallas Turner in 2024.
| Year | Player | Selections | Percent | Ranking |
| 2023 | WR Jordan Addison | 52 | 9.54% | 2nd |
| 2024 | QB J.J. McCarthy | 273 | 32.57% | 1st |
| 2024 | EDGE Dallas Turner | 44 | 5.25% | 7th |
| 2025 | OG Donovan Jackson | 9 | 1.37% | 15th |
| 2026 | Caleb Banks | 16 | 2.74% | 7th |
It was a surprise for many reasons, especially with the majority of individuals believing that Oregon Ducks safety Dillon Thieneman. 238 out of 584 collected mock drafts (40.5%) sent him to the Vikings, including 69 of 107 in the final week of the tracker. This isn’t the first time that the Vikings have gone completely against consensus, as they believed they would also take a safety last year.
They believe Caleb Banks has home run potential
This wasn’t just a selection where the Vikings ended up making without a lot of studying. It started with a visit to Gainesville from defensive lineman Ryan Nielsen.
It didn’t stop there, as Banks revealed that he took a top-30 visit to Minnesota during his post-draft press conference. It’s clear the Vikings put in the work to be sure that they were comfortable with it, especially with the injury.
“I think we have the best doctors in the country, if not the world, and we have complete confidence in them. There’s nothing without risk in any player you select, but we feel very good about where Caleb will be when it’s time to go to training camp, so we’re comfortable with the injury.”
Vikings interim general manager Rob Brzezinski
What we didn’t expect was the Vikings wanting to aim for a true home run in the first round. With all the needs the Vikings have, taking a chance like this wasn’t viewed to be in the cards. It certainly sounds like they were only thinking about finding a potential gamechanger, with The Athletic’s Alec Lewis saying that Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq was the other option the Vikings were considering.
This time around, Brzezinski was committed to taking the best available player, but the Vikings wanted to reinforce their defensive line room at some point. Once the New York Jets plucked Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq off the board, the team moved through its process, opting not to get overly creative in trading down given the potential to miss out on its coveted prospect.
The Athletic's alec lewis
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Taking a player with that kind of upside can change the course of an entire franchise, which is what the Vikings were trying to do. They ended up drafting the best player available, something Vikings fans have been asking for quite some time.
“It took a lot of discussion. I think none of this you can just look at in a vacuum. So, as we’re analyzing Caleb and we’re stacking our board, we just stack the board based on the way we see the talent. You’re analyzing everything and including everything, and we just felt really comfortable where he was on our board. The board fell, and he was the best player on the board and we took him, and it was pretty easy.”
Vikings interim general manager Rob Brzezinski
The traits are elite, and the Vikings believe they can maximize it. There are very few human beings built like Banks with that kind of athleticism. The Vikings believe he will hit, and it’s a reason for optimism in Brian Flores’ defense.
