A stab at rookie roles this season...
What roles can the Vikings’ nine rookie draftees earn this season?
Caleb Banks, the 18th overall pick, was drafted to be a difference maker. But how much playing time is available to him and the rest of the team’s nine-man 2026 draft class?
Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is known to be demanding on his players and assistant coaches.
Younger players can struggle to adapt to Flores’ complex, shapeshifting defensive scheme. As safety Josh Metellus once quipped: “Flo hates rookies.”
That’s obviously not an absolute. Undrafted linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. quickly earned a roster spot and a large role in Week 1 of his rookie season in 2023. But you have to go back to the 2020 Dolphins to find a rookie who last started Week 1 under a Flores-led defense.
That rookie? Ex-Alabama nose tackle Raekwon Davis, a second-round pick.
That should keep expectations in check for the Vikings’ nine-player 2026 draft class, which featured four defensive players in the team’s first five picks.
Here’s a snapshot of how close those draftees are to playing time as training camp gets underway.
Defensive tackle Caleb Banks
Banks said he’s been cleared to fully participate in practices, and the mammoth first-round pick (18th overall) has already mixed in with the starters early in camp. Banks (6-foot-6, 327 pounds) is four inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than Javon Hargrave, the biggest of the two starting defensive tackles the Vikings released in the offseason. It’s a rare sight seeing Banks stand across from 6-foot-6 center Blake Brandel in practices. Banks can earn a spot in the rotation immediately. The starting group was Jalen Redmond, 2024 seventh-round pick Levi Drake Rodriguez and 2025 fifth-round pick Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins the first two days of camp.
Banks is just happy to be on the field after undergoing two foot surgeries in the past year.
“I feel like it’s been long overdue,” Banks said. “Tired of this foot [stuff]. I’m ready to get it over with. ... Ready to not sit in the training room and do 1,000 calf raises.”
Banks credited Matt Duhamel, a longtime Vikings trainer, with helping push him through what he described as a more intense rehab regimen than what he was given in college.
“We’ve been doing all different types of things that I didn’t do at Florida,” Banks said. “Some stuff was different: little bit more extreme, which is what I needed.”
Linebacker Jake Golday
Golday, a second-round pick (51st overall), is eventually expected to be a key player on defense, but he’s being tasked with taking on a versatile role that typically requires a long runway for young players. He should contribute right away on special teams.
After getting married this summer, Golday said he spent about 2½ weeks around the Vikings facility before training camp started, working out with teammates and studying the various roles Flores has envisioned for him. Coaches have said Golday’s role will be akin to that of edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel, who plays on the line and at off-ball linebacker. Golday played a diverse rush-and-cover role at Cincinnati, too.
“It’s not too foreign to me,” Golday said, “but an NFL playbook is a lot different, so I’m just doing that day by day and trying to learn as much as possible.”
Golday’s addition comes as two Vikings linebackers — Blake Cashman and Pace — enter the final year of their current contracts.
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Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Defensive tackle Domonique Orange
Orange, a third-round pick (82nd overall) out of Iowa State, is already the third-heaviest defensive lineman on the roster at 322 pounds behind only Banks and third-year pro Taki Taimani (324). But Banks is listed at 6-foot-6, while Orange is listed at 6-foot-2, making Orange the prototypical nose tackle the Vikings have lacked. In recent years, Flores leaned on Hargrave and Harrison Phillips, among others, in that spot.
Orange has an opening to earn snaps immediately — if he proves ready. “Big Citrus” has already taken some first-team reps in camp.
Offensive tackle Caleb Tiernan
Tiernan, a third-round pick (97th overall), arrives to a logjam at offensive tackle, as the Vikings extended right tackle Brian O’Neill through the 2030 season on Tuesday. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw is under contract through 2029. The team also signed veteran tackle Ryan Van Demark to a one-year deal in March to be its primary backup tackle. That means this could be a developmental year for Tiernan, a former team captain at Northwestern who started 43 games over the last four years.
Safety Jakobe Thomas
Thomas, a third-round pick (98th overall) out of Miami, has worked behind safeties Josh Metellus, Theo Jackson and Jay Ward, but the rookie has still been given first-team reps as camp begins.
Thomas aligned at multiple spots — in the box and deep safety — during early practices, showcasing how he’s learning the varied jobs required by safeties in Flores’ defense. If that continues, he is presumably earning the trust of coaches and could earn a role sooner rather than later.
Fullback Max Bredeson
Bredeson, a fifth-round pick (159th overall) from Michigan, is expected to compete for a role on special teams immediately while learning the various roles on offense held by former fullback C.J. Ham, who retired this offseason after a 10-year career.
Talking with the Minnesota Star Tribune on Thursday, Ham said he spoke with Bredeson after the pick. Ham also reflected on how Kevin O’Connell incorporated him into the offense over four years despite coming from a Rams system that did not use a fullback.
“[To] be a part of showing our organization, those coaches that there’s value in this position,” Ham said, “[and] for them to go in and spend a draft pick [on a fullback], I’m super grateful I was able to be a part of that.”
Cornerback Charles Demmings
Demmings, a fifth-round pick (163rd overall), played the vast majority of his college snaps at Stephen F. Austin as an outside cornerback, so it’s interesting to see coaches give Demmings snaps in the slot early in camp. Flores’ primary slot options have been cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. and Metellus, whose role could shift with Harrison Smith currently out of the picture.
At 6-foot-1, Demmings doesn’t have the ideal size to match up with shifty slot receivers, but he showed he can play press coverage in Wednesday’s practice when he jammed slot receiver Myles Price at the line and stuck to him in man coverage.
Running back Demond Claiborne
Claiborne, the Vikings’ sixth-round pick (198th overall), has enticing speed. The lane is narrow for him this season behind Aaron Jones Sr. and Jordan Mason. But it’s also a long season and the 5-foot-10, 188-pound Claiborne brings a different kind of speed than his fellow runners. If he can adapt quickly to the discipline required for NFL footwork and aiming points, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get carries.
But what about kick returner? Claiborne averaged 26.3 yards — and scored twice — over 22 returns at Wake Forest. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said Claiborne will compete for that role with the Vikings.
“I’m really excited about Demond,” Daniels said. “You talk about movement skills, explosiveness. I don’t think we’ve had a guy like this since Kene [Nwangwu], honestly.”
Center Gavin Gerhardt
Gerhardt, the team’s seventh-round pick (235th overall), is behind starter Blake Brandel and backup Michael Jurgens on the depth chart. Coaches have also had guard Joe Huber snap to quarterbacks during early drills.
Gerhardt will need to earn a roster spot, but the practice squad could be a good starting point for him. That’s where Brandel began his career as a 2020 sixth-round pick.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
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