Bleeding Green Nation
With the 23rd overall pick in the 2024 Bleeding Green Nation community mock draft, Minnesota Vikings GM RabidPanda13 selects ...
Chaos Theory
Expect the unexpected. Thousands of mocks are run every spring; compiling evaluations of the very best college players based off their on-field performance, combine testing, and team visits (just to name a few factors), eventually forming a rough level of consensus as the NFL Draft approaches. By Night 1 the world has decided what is expected, and therefore what is deemed acceptable. And yet, seemingly every year to our collective shock some apparently desperate or incompetent team takes a player much earlier than expected or a player we all thought to be a can’t-miss prospect sits for hours waiting to hear their name finally be called, which leads us to the 2024 NFL Draft…
Roger Goodell sent shockwaves through Campus Martius Park when he announced that the Washington Commanders were selecting WR Marvin Harrison Jr with the #2 overall pick in the draft. The only debate there had been in the weeks leading up to this bombshell centered on the which particular passer they would choose to lead the franchise into a new era: prototype Drake Maye, dual-threat Jayden Daniels, or perhaps even national champion JJ McCarthy. Astoundingly, Josh Harris signed off on his team forgoing positional value, and in doing so initiated a chain reaction of teams pivoting off their expected plans to adjust to this bombshell, leaving the Minnesota Vikings to watch in horrified frustration as their plans to trade up for a young signal caller went up in smoke. Maye was immediately snatched by New England, and after Arizona and the LA Chargers refused to forgo the chance to take this year’s #2 and #3 WR prospects (at least not without the Vikings including their 2025 1st and additional future picks in any offers), New York gleefully jumped at the chance to select Daniels. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah persisted in his attempts to trade up and guarantee his club the #4 QB prospect, but was continuously met with other teams attempting to leverage his perceived desperation into a king’s ransom of draft picks, leaving Minnesota with no choice but to join their fans and watch as the evening proceeded and the #11 pick drew closer and closer. By some level of divine intervention however, the Minnesota Vikings find themselves on the clock with JJ McCarthy still available and, after dramatically allowing the clock to run for almost the full ten minutes), Roger Goodell announces the new face of Skol Nation.
A Nice Problem to Have
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and that’s not always a bad thing. Adofo-Mensah took action to put his club in position to come away from this draft with a top QB prospect; acquiring the #23 pick from Houston to stock the war chest. Once again though, anything can and does happen in the NFL Draft, leading to Minnesota being in...
