Minnesota Vikings’ NFL Draft slot is locked in, and their history at the position is a complicated one
The Minnesota Vikings have picked at 18th overall in the NFL Draft three other times in team history, and they have varied results.
The Minnesota Vikings have finished the season on a five-game winning streak, with their final game being a 16-3 win over the Green Bay Packers.
With that win, the Vikings have clinched third place in the NFC North and have their draft slot locked in at 18th overall. In the team’s 65 years, they have an interesting history at 18th overall.
Minnesota Vikings NFL Draft history at 18th overall
The Vikings have selected at 18th overall three times in their 65 year history. This will be the team’s fourth instance, and it’s been a mixed bag of success selecting at the spot.
1994: CB Dewayne Washington
When the Vikings selected Washington out of North Carolina State in the 1994 NFL Draft, it was just the second first-round pick they had in the previous five seasons thanks to the Herschel Walker trade. Washington played his rookie contract with the Vikings, including a fourth-place finish in the 1994 Defensive Rookie of the Year award.
During his time with the Vikings, he played in 63 games, and logged 10 interceptions and 296 tackles. He spent the next six seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers before finishing up with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs.
2005: DE Erasmus James
One of the years where the Vikings had two first-round picks was in 2005 after they traded Randy Moss away to the Oakland Raiders. They used the pick from the Moss trade to select South Carolina wide receiver Troy Williamson and James came at 18th overall.
An edge rusher out of Wisconsin, James struggled in the NFL. He had 4.0 sacks as a rookie, but only had 1.0 in the following three years, where injuries limited him to just 13 games. He had all the ability to thrive in the NFL, it just never came to fruition.
2019: C Garrett Bradbury
When the Vikings selected Bradbury, they believed he was going to fix their issues at center. After having a ton of success with late-round centers Matt Birk and John Sullivan, they chose to go with the high draft capital route, and it didn’t work out the way the Vikings had hoped.
Bradbury was a solid player during his seven seasons in purple and gold, but never became the high-level player his draft capital said he would become. The Vikings let him walk this past offseason and he signed with the New England Patriots, where he’s been a solid player for quarterback Drake Maye.
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