With season wrapped up, Vikings' slot in 2026 NFL draft is set
Story by Will Ragatz • 12h •
3 min read
The Vikings' pick in the 2026 NFL Draft is now set. With their win over the Packers, they finished 9-8 and have the 18th overall selection in April.
As of this writing, there's still one regular season game to be played on Sunday night between the 8-8 Ravens and the 9-7 Steelers, with the winner claiming the AFC North title and earning a trip to the postseason. If the Steelers win, the Ravens would pick 14th. If the Ravens win, the Steelers would join the Vikings and Lions at 9-8, but the Vikings have the toughest strength of schedule among those teams, which is the tiebreaker. So the Vikings are at 18 regardless of what happens on SNF.
It's the lowest draft pick a team can possibly have without making the playoffs. That feels fitting for the Vikings, who ended the season on a five-game winning streak and finished just 0.5 games behind the Packers for the final playoff spot in the NFC.
When the Vikings fell to 4-8 after getting shut out in Seattle in the final game of November, they seemed to be in the mix for a top-ten pick in the upcoming draft. But by winning five straight to end the season, they worsened their pick and also moved from fourth to third in the NFC North, giving them a slightly tougher on-paper schedule next year (albeit with only three games affected).
Kevin O'Connell has said that winning games at this point in the season is valuable as a reflection of their culture and something they can build on moving forward. Whether you agree with that or not is up to you, but the Vikings were never going to bench healthy players or do any sort of tanking for a better pick.
The assumption is that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, who signed a contract extension last offseason, will get to run his fifth draft with the organization since being hired in 2022. Much has been made of Adofo-Mensah's track record in the draft, but despite plenty of obvious misses, two of his recent first-rounders — Jordan Addison and Dallas Turner — have been hits. The jury is still out on J.J. McCarthy and Donovan Jackson after their debut seasons. Jalen Nailor and Will Reichard stand out as late-round hits.
Nothing is certain in the NFL, but it would be fairly surprising if this 9-8 season leads Vikings ownership to move on from Adofo-Mensah. Speculatively, the future feels less certain for someone like assistant GM Ryan Grigson.
The Vikings will have all kinds of interesting options with the 18th pick in April. There are certain positions they need more or less than others, but taking the best player available is typically the best strategy.
If they don't trade out of their slot, this will be the fourth time in their history the Vikings have picked 18th. They previously took DB Dewayne Washington in 1994, DE Erasmus James in 2005, and C Garrett Bradbury in 2019.
The Vikings also have their own second-round pick (50th overall), their own third-rounder (82nd), and the projected top compensatory pick in the third round (97th). Those four top-100 picks will be key as they look to address some holes and add young talent to their roster.
