Tough decisions facing the Minnesota Vikings ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is a few days away and the Minnesota Vikings have some tough decisions to make for the future of the team.

The Minnesota Vikings are coming off a year in which they claimed the NFC North title with a 13-4 record, before losing a tight game against the New York Giants in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

The team should be looking at a bright future, but it feels more like things are in transition. Adam Thielen is gone, Dalvin Cook’s future looks set to take him elsewhere also, and the team needs to make some decisions at this year’s draft to start planning for what comes next.

Considerations for the Minnesota Vikings

The biggest question facing the Vikings as they enter the 2023 season is their long-term future at the quarterback position, which has been the epitome of stability since Kirk Cousins signed with the team back in 2018.

20,934 passing yards, 153 touchdowns, three Pro Bowls, and a 46-33-1 record later, the Vikings now enter the final year of Cousins’ deal, one in which he will turn 35 years old and carry a $20,250,000 cap hit.

Cousins can’t play forever, and he may yet sign another contract to remain with the team beyond 2023, but it’s getting to a time where the Vikings should be considering what happens when he is no longer under center.

Could this year’s class of QBs be promising enough to warrant using the team’s 23rd overall pick on? Hendon Hooker out of the University of Tennessee is a name that has come up in multiple mock drafts that have considered the possibility of a Cousins-less future in Minneapolis.

But, equally, could the team opt to trade up to land one of the higher-ranked prospects on the board? Bryce Young looks set to go first overall to the Carolina Panthers, but could the Vikings make a splash and leap to second overall and land someone such as C.J. Stroud?

Then there’s the position behind the quarterback, which could become an immediate area of need should star running back Dalvin Cook find a new home this off-season.

Reports have emerged that Cook could be traded, or cut altogether, paving the way for the Vikings to sport a new-look backfield by the time the 2023 season rolls around. Some mock drafts have linked the Vikings with Texas Longhorns back Bijan Robinson, considered the best at the position in this year’s draft.

With the way running backs are valued by NFL teams, there’s a real chance that Robinson could fall to the mid-to-late first round, which would make it easy for the Vikings to pick him, especially if he falls into their lap at 23.

If Cook somehow remains with the team, wide receiver could be the focus in the early rounds of the draft. Jordan Addison (USC) and Zay Flowers (Boston College) are two names that have been considered in multiple mocks, with both putting up big numbers in their final year in college.

Either player would learn behind one of the elite receiving talents in the league in Justin Jefferson and could form a formidable duo that a number of other teams around the league boast, just as the Vikings did last season when Thielen was still with the team.

While the offense is quite a big focus for the team, the cornerback position’s lack of depth and top-end talent is something that could tip the scales should the Minnesota Vikings decide they’re happy to look at talent later in the draft for other areas of need.

Cam Smith, Joey Porter Jr, and Deonte Banks could be some names that may be available around the time the Vikings are on the clock, and any one of them could be a plug-and-play guy early on in their career, giving the team some much-needed talent on the outside.

There are many questions that the Minnesota Vikings need to consider as the draft quickly approaches, and none of them will have easy answers for GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah or head coach Kevin O’Connell.

Whichever direction the team goes will be a small insight into their thought process at this stage of the team’s existence and will set up expectations for what the team can achieve during the 2023 season and, potentially, beyond.