Vikings Offensive Horizontal NFL Draft Board: Top 111 players ranked, what it means, and why it’s important
Most people focus on a big board when it comes to the NFL Draft. The better way to look at the draft class as a whole is a horizontal board.
The NFL Draft is just a few days away and the Minnesota Vikings’ strategy will be fascinating.
Looking overall at the options at 18th overall, they can go a bevy of different ways to improve the status of the roster. Cornerback and safety are the top options, according to consensus, but other positions, like wide receiver, could be the target.
While big boards are a great resource to understand where a player should end up being selected, but there is a better way to understand it: the horizontal board.
Minnesota Vikings offensive horizontal board
The idea of the horizontal board is simple: quantify how good the players are by matching them up with the needs of the team. Instead of ranking players 1-100, you put them on the board based on where you would take them in the draft.
It helps fans, analysts, and teams quantify whether a player is going to be worth a selection at a certain spot in the draft. That gets decided by mutiple factors, including:
- Talent
- Injury history
- Roster needs
If an offensive tackle is a top 18 player, the value is fine for the player in a vacuum, but the Vikings don’t need that position. That’s where the horizontal board comes into play. Here is how the offense stands up.
Some highlights on the horizontal board.
- You can tell how low I am on the running back class, with only three players being worthy of a selection before day three.
- There are a bevy of first-round picks at offensive tackle being grouped in with the players at 49th overall. Drafting one of them in the first round would be poor process due to having Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill on the roster.
- Once again, it’s a strong wide receiver class. There aren’t the elite talents at the top that we are used to in years past, but the depth is excellent.
- I am not a believer in Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson, hence why he is not there until the 97th overall pick.
Will the Vikings follow my horizontal board? Only time will tell, but now you have a good sense of where everyone offensively should be selected.