So Atlanta took Penix over McCarthy

[pattersaur]

I had really wanted Maye during the draft process. He reminded me a lot of Herbert/Allen. Add the fact that KOC wanted him and he was a consensus top 3 QB in a generational draft made me want him as our QBOTF even more. Once that dream died, JJ was my guy. Just loved his moxie and confidence. The only thing that prevented him from being up there with Maye for me was the lack of opportunities in the passing game. I thought that might delay his development, but boy it seems I was way off. 

Here's to hoping a long career in purple for our boy JJ.

This is exactly how I felt and still feel. Penix wilted in the big game and had bad medicals. I personally would have taken the other 5 guys ahead of him pretty easily, and still would.

[JimmyinSD]

Ive been on record numerous times,  maye and William i wanted no part of,   daniels I was scared of due to his slight frame,   Penix was my favorite,   but was basically in a box with JJM and Nix.  I would have been happy with any of them.

[StickierBuns]

There was so much talk on the board about Minnesota 'moving up' to the top 3 or so to get a QB, it never made sense to me. Chicago, Washington and New England all desperately needed QBs....why would they trade out? All the B.S. about why take a QB high if you can't protect him, don't have a talented roster, was just hogwash and I knew it. You take a talent like QB regardless and that's exactly what happened. The Vikings got that extra first round choice to make sure they got a top 4 QB because they werent getting the top 3, but they ended up not needing it. So the NFL world consensus is that Caleb, Jayden and Drake are better than Penix, McCarthy and Nix and I think that is going to turn out to be wrong.

For me it kind of broke down like this: didn't read much at all about Caleb Williams. He was untouchable, the consensus #1 overall pick, wasn't going to waste my time researching him much other than some peripheral stuff. Read about his crazy good natural ability, but also read he wasn't accurate and played too much hero ball. 

Jayden Daniels, although extremely talented, concerned me because of his slight physical presence. Could see his mobility and off program play would be outstanding. Good arm, not elite arm. I liked him a bunch, but never seriously did a huge deep dive because he wasn't a realistic get for Minnesota.

Drake Maye was the guy I did a pretty deep dive on and my thought was: this is it? It truly was. This is the guy rumored for KOC to be salivating over? He had a better year before his last season of CFB. He's a big, tall kid that can move. Nice arm. Lots of the tangibles that make GMs drool. I still think Daniels was the one KOC was enamored with, not Maye. I also think the whole Viking's brass section knew that nobody was knocking off the top 3 teams to snag QBs. Very interested to see how he performs this season, he's got the right coaching staff in place now.....I'm a fan of Mike Vrabel. 

Michael Penix Jr. I really liked.....he was my Plan B if JJM was snagged. Great arm talent, accurate and more athletic than many gave him credit for. Mature. Also stronger than most think. But big time injury history that makes things risky. Stands tall in the pocket. Will be interesting to watch as well.

Bo Nix was a kid that I just knew Minnesota wouldn't be interested in....KOC wants a big arm ideally. He wouldn't take his first piece of clay with Nix's tangibles. His intangibles are stellar. Good kid, good leader. Tough minded. Competitive. I would find myself rooting for him in a secondary kind of way but Sean Payton is his coach and his face is so punchable. He'll have a nice career, but his ceiling is the lowest of all the QBs.

I won't bore anyone with my JJM feedback, you all know ad nauseam where I stand with him, why I like him, why he was my 1st choice for Minnesota, blah blah blah. Its going to be actually pretty fun watching all of these guys ball and see where it all shakes out.

[TheWinterSKOLdier]

This is exactly how I felt and still feel. Penix wilted in the big game and had bad medicals. I personally would have taken the other 5 guys ahead of him pretty easily, and still would.

Yeah, Penix and Nix were down the board for me. I just didn't see Nix's ceiling being all that high, and Penix's injury history was downright scary. Plus, not a big fan of lefty QB's.

Regardless, had either of them been the pick then I would be behind them just as much as I am JJ or whoever is under Center for us.

[medaille]

Minnesota is a much better system to drop a QB into. Whichever of those two QBs we picked was going to look superior in hindsight. Don’t think we’ll be able to glean much unless Penix outshines JJM in an inferior system or JJM straight falls on his face and is embarrassing. If JJM looks better, which he should, we won’t be able to tell if he was just a better prospect or Minnesota is a better system.

That said, the thing I’m more interested in, is how the Cousins scenario plays out. How does he look in camp? What does his ankle look like with another offseason of healing? I think we probably have to be pretty skeptical at this point in time, as I would have expected him to see videos of him doing drills and looking more mobile, in an effort to get traded, if he was able to do them.

[purplefaithful]

IT would have been so "Viking like" if we had the #13 pick that draft...

Am I glad we were able to par-take in that QB buffet at all? A part of me sadly says yes.

I still believe NYG blew it big that draft at #6. I dont see Dart being "that guy"

[pattersaur]

IT would have been so "Viking like" if we had the #13 pick that draft...

Am  I glad we were able to par-take in that QB buffet at all?  A part of me sadly says yes.

I still believe NYG blew it big that draft at #6. I dont see Dart being "that guy"

Vegas had #13 I believe and now they have Geno Smith (and a really good tight end). But I agree-- This may wind up very wrong, but I'm very glad we have JJ McCarthy and not Geno Smith or the equivalent.

[medaille]

I think if the Vikings were on the outside looking in (aka behind the Raiders), we probably would still end up with a QB just because we were willing to expend so many resources to get one, that other teams weren’t willing to do. Realistically, we could have traded up to 3 firsts to get a QB (2 firsts and the 2 seconds we combined into a first). None of the teams behind us were willing to trade in front of us to get a QB, nor were the Raiders willing to leapfrog the Broncos to get the last QB. I think if push comes to shove we probably would have spent more draft capital to go get JJM or Penix.

The Vikings for whatever reason identified 2024 as the year a middle of the road team could acquire a QB and went all in to execute their plan, when so many other teams let those opportunities pass. That said, the worst case scenario is that we would have resigned Darnold to a slightly too big of a contract (after the season) or went out and got Rodgers, which nobody would really fault them for.

Totally agree that the Giants flubbed this up pretty badly, but also they are not a good team, so they’ll have another chance soon. The Vikings are too well run to really end up in the hunt for a very good QB prospect most years, so we’d be waiting for a QB to fall into reasonable range to trade up and get one, which happens, but you can’t plan around one falling to you when you’re hovering around the 20th pick.

[Zanary]

I think if the Vikings were on the outside looking in (aka behind the Raiders), we probably would still end up with a QB just because we were willing to expend so many resources to get one, that other teams weren’t willing to do.  Realistically, we could have traded up to 3 firsts to get a QB (2 firsts and the 2 seconds we combined into a first).  None of the teams behind us were willing to trade in front of us to get a QB, nor were the Raiders willing to leapfrog the Broncos to get the last QB.  I think if push comes to shove we probably would have spent more draft capital to go get JJM or Penix.

The Vikings for whatever reason identified 2024 as the year a middle of the road team could acquire a QB and went all in to execute their plan, when so many other teams let those opportunities pass.  That said, the worst case scenario is that we would have resigned Darnold to a slightly too big of a contract (after the season) or went out and got Rodgers, which nobody would really fault them for.

Totally agree that the Giants flubbed this up pretty badly, but also they are not a good team, so they’ll have another chance soon.  The Vikings are too well run to really end up in the hunt for a very good QB prospect most years, so we’d be waiting for a QB to fall into reasonable range to trade up and get one, which happens, but you can’t plan around one falling to you when you’re hovering around the 20th pick.

The 2024 draft had too much high-end QB talent to ignore. As disastrous as the injuries and what-not of 2023 were, that may have been a "karmic exchange" in which we paid the bill, up front, for some good QB luck starting, hopefully, this season.

No disrespect really meant towards Darnold, but...he joins the many one-and-done bits of the team's legacy. He ended up being a brilliant placeholder, but no more than that.