The Minnesota Vikings are heading into the 2026 NFL draft with more room to maneuver than they had a year ago, and this mock seven-round haul leans hard into it. The draft is scheduled for April 23-25, and the Vikings will enter it with nine picks, including four in the top 100, after committing a league-low $43 million in cash during free agency.
That is a sharp turn from last year, when Minnesota entered the draft with just four picks and spent more than $300 million in cash commitments in free agency. This time, the team signed quarterback Kyler Murray to compete with J.J. McCarthy, and Rob Brzezinski will run the draft room while the club waits to hire a permanent replacement for fired General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah until after the draft.
The strongest throughline in the mock is the search for speed in the secondary, where Harrison Smith’s retirement has left a major opening. Dillon Thieneman, who played safety at Oregon, would bring a 4.37-second 40-yard dash. Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, a 6-foot-3, 213-pound safety from Toledo, posted two interceptions, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries last year. Those are the kinds of traits that fit a defense trying to rebuild quickly without spending heavily in free agency.
There is also size in the mix. Peter Woods, a 6-foot-2 defensive tackle from Clemson, led all defensive tackles with a 4.54-second short shuttle time at the combine. At corner, the Vikings had a private workout with Chris Johnson, a 6-foot defender from San Diego State who ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash. And at tight end, Eli Stowers of Vanderbilt added one of the most eye-catching testing marks of the combine after high-jumping 7 feet in high school and posting a 45½-inch vertical jump.
The mock even extends to the edge, where Malachi Lawrence of Central Florida gives Minnesota another body at outside linebacker. That matters because the draft board is shaped not just by talent, but by timing: the Vikings are trying to restock a roster that changed direction in free agency, changed again at general manager, and now has to make nine picks count. With four selections in the top 100, they have the kind of draft capital that can alter the depth chart quickly if they choose correctly.
The tension in this setup is that the Vikings do not have a permanent general manager in place yet, but they still have to make decisions that will define the next phase of the roster. Brzezinski will oversee the room, the draft will arrive in late April, and Minnesota’s best path is obvious from this mock: use the extra picks to get younger, faster and sturdier before the organization settles the front office for good.
