Tag: Pro Football Network

Pro Football Network sends Vikings some QB help in latest mock draft

The Vikings go quarterback in another mock draft

With the college football regular season done and the NFL season coming down the stretch run, more and more NFL draft content is being pushed out. That means we’re going to see mock drafts galore in the coming weeks and months. Most of these mocks have been sending the Minnesota Vikings some quarterback help, and the latest from Pro Football Network is no exception.

In PFN’s latest mock draft, Joe Broback has the Vikings selecting Georgia quarterback Carson Beck with the 21st overall selection. Under Beck, the Georgia Bulldogs have dominated their competition this season, rolling to the top spot in both the College Football Playoff rankings and in the AP Top 25 poll.

The choice is an interesting one for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it’s a new name for fans to get familiar with. It bucks the trend of giving the Vikings one of the top names at the position. But, more importantly, it’s interesting in the sense that Beck may not even enter into the 2024 NFL draft.

Beck has only had one season at the helm for Georgia, and is a redshirt Junior. It is entirely possible that Beck opts to put his NFL aspirations on hold for a year and goes back to Georgia to complete his college eligibility.

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More rumors circulating about Danielle Hunter

More rumors are circulating about the Vikigns edge rusher

The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the most talked about teams when it comes to the trade deadline. The Vikings started 2-4 but their two wins came against the two worst teams in the National Football League.

Pro Football Network’s Adam Caplan reported that outside linebacker Danielle Hunter is a likely trade candidate.

Known in personnel circles for his size, strength, and speed, the ninth-year edge rusher could really help a team that is looking to make a deep playoff run. And as a league source told us recently, Hunter’s ability to play in multiple defensive schemes (has played with 4-3 and 3-4 defensive alignments in his career) should give teams interested in him the belief that he could contribute right away.

While Minnesota is currently just one game out of an NFC Wild Card spot, there’s a strong belief in personnel circles that the Vikings don’t have a realistic chance to make the playoffs this season, and the reality is that this is a team that’s in transition and needs to rebuild in some areas.

This doesn’t really tell us anything about what the Vikings will do at the trade deadline. It does tell us what those around the league think about the situation and where the Vikings are at.

If Hunter is moved, it won’t happen if they are at 0.500 at the trade deadline. They are definitely a team in transition, but they aren’t playing like a bad football team.

General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah hasn’t faced a situation like this during his 21 months on the job. How he will handle the trade deadline will speak volumes about what his future plans are.

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2 Minnesota Vikings made Pro Football Network’s top 100 players

Minnesota Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw and WR Justin Jefferson both made Pro Football Network’s top 100 list.

Each year, NFL Network releases its top 100 players in the league. It comes out in multiple episodes and generates good discussion.

This year, Dalton Miller of Pro Football Network set upon the daunting task of creating a list of the top 100 players in the NFL. He ranked Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson at eighth overall and left tackle Christian Darrisaw at 87th overall.

Jefferson is the best wide receiver in the National Football League and Miller agrees, drawing the comparison to the player he replaced in Stefon Diggs.

Think about Diggs for a second. He’s one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, and the Minnesota Vikings simply replaced him with a more athletic version of himself.

Justin Jefferson is the best receiver in the NFL. He glides on the field, and his ability to manipulate defenders with pacing and stride length while attacking leverage is unmatched. But Jefferson can also go up and get the ball and makes no qualms going over the middle. He’s a three-level threat who should have an easier job in 2023 with a bit of help coming his way offensively in Jordan Addison and a full season of T.J. Hockenson.

Miller spoke highly of Darrisaw and that it was just a matter of time for him.

It was only ever a matter of time for Christian Darrisaw. Penei Sewell and Rashawn Slater vacuumed up most of the buzz surrounding the 2021 OL class, but Darrisaw had that same kind of ability coming from Virginia Tech. Darrisaw played well but was very obviously a rookie in 2021. He was excellent at protecting Kirk Cousins a season ago, and he’s one of the most dominant run blockers in the NFL at the position.

You could make arguments for right tackle Brian O’Neill, edge rusher Danielle Hunter and safety Harrison Smith to be included in this list, but there are a lot of really good players in the NFL.

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PFN ranks Vikings as one of the league’s worst defenses

After a poor showing in the 2022 season, the Minnesota Vikings defense isn’t viewed that highly in 2023.

It’s safe to say the Minnesota Vikings didn’t live up to expectations on defense last season.

The Vikings, led by defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, finished near the bottom in points allowed per game, allowing a whopping 25.1 points per game. The Vikings were also 31st in the league for total yards allowed per game.

The poor showing led to the firing of Donatell during the off-season, with the Vikings choosing to fire former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores as their defensive coordinator.

Despite Flores’ hiring and multiple upgrades to the defense, many don’t expect the Vikings to see significant improvement on that side of the ball.

Pro Football Network’s Arif Hasan recently ranked every team’s defense and placed the Vikings near the bottom at 26th in the league.

“The Vikings are slated to improve defensively, but not enormously. They revamped their secondary, which helps, but the turnover they’ve had makes them difficult to project,” Hasan wrote. “Losing Za’Darius Smith deals a pretty big blow to their hopes, but they’ve improved overall. Where they’re coming from wasn’t that great to begin with, though.”

None of this should come as a surprise.

Although the Vikings added two immediate starters in free agency with cornerback Byron Murphy and edge rusher Marcus Davenport, the Vikings are a finished product on defense.

While the return of players like Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth, Jr. from injuries could boost the team’s fortunes, Flores has his work cut out for him.

If the Vikings want to become one of the league’s better defenses, Flores will have to find ways to maximize the talent available while hiding some of their significant weaknesses.

Latest rankings have Vikings with 12th-best offense in NFL

Coming off a year where the Vikings were the 8th best offense in scoring, Arif Hasan has them outside the top 10.

The offense is going to be the calling card for the Minnesota Vikings this season. The defense finished 31st in the NFL last season and there is no proof that there will be any improvement.

Pro Football Network’s Arif Hasan ranked every offense in the NFL and ranked the Vikings with the 12th-best unit.

Losing Adam Thielen hurts, but the model considers Jordan Addison an upgrade. The Vikings did not improve their pass protection, but they have an elite pair of tackles and a functional interior. Importantly, the combination of Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson should help the offense compete for a top-10 rank, even if they do end up losing Dalvin Cook.

What is interesting here is the statement that the Vikings didn’t improve their pass protection. I don’t how the model Hasan uses works, but it’s a good bet that Ed Ingram improves significantly from year one to year two.

The Vikings could easily end up higher on the list by the end of the season due to the talent at the most important positions on the unit.

Final mock draft simulator: Where Michigan football players get drafted

It’s getting closer!

We are now hours away from the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

We’ve done one simulated mock draft before, and now that it’s draft day, we are going to do one more. Pro Football Network has an updated draft board and we cycled through all seven rounds to see where the Wolverine football players ended up going.

In real life, the maize and blue have a couple of players who could go in the first round: DJ Turner and Mazi Smith. But in this sim. there weren’t any Michigan players to go in round one.

There will be several Wolverines to go in the middle rounds or late rounds and it will be intriguing to see where they all end up.

Without further ado, here is where all the Michigan football players ended up going during our simualted mock draft.

Vikings & NFL draft consensus board w/Arif Hasan: The Real Forno Show

On a special episode of The Real Forno Show, Arif Hasan of Pro Football Network joins to discuss the 2023 NFL Draft and the consensus board.

We are just seven days away from the start of the NFL draft and things are starting to come into focus. One of the tools that is so great to utilize is the consensus board from Pro Football Network’s Arif Hasan.

He joins The Real Forno Show to discuss that and multiple other topics.

  • How does this draft stack up to those of years past?
  • How did the Vikings draft compared to the consensus board last year?
  • What can we gather from general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first draft?

All of that and more on The Real Forno Show live at 6 pm central time or on demand on the Vikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel.

Power rankings: Bills near top of PFN post-free agency poll

Power rankings: #Bills near top of PFN post-free agency poll:

The Buffalo Bills haven’t made the flashiest of moves early this offseason, as promised.

General manager Brandon Beane said that might be the case because of last year’s addition of Von Miller. But Pro Football Network is not forgetting that past in their latest power rankings.

PFN ranked Buffalo as the No. 4 team in their post-free agency power rankings. A reason for that is because PFN is considering Miller an “addition” to the team in 2023 as well, referencing that the pass rusher will be back from a knee injury that ended his season early in 2022.

In PFN’s poll, the Cincinnati Bengals, San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs at the top are only teams ranking higher than Buffalo.

Here’s PFN’s full analysis on the Bills:

The Buffalo Bills lost Edmunds but kept Jordan Poyer and could still make some noise by signing a veteran linebacker to replace the former for the coming season. Getting Von Miller back certainly helps their defensive cause as well.

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Pro Football Network sends Vikings a wide receiver in latest mock draft

The Vikings taking a wide receiver in the first round is a sound strategy

There have been many discussions this offseason about which direction the Minnesota Vikings should go when it comes to their first-round pick in April’s NFL Draft.

While there is an urgency to get younger and faster on defense, there’s an argument to be made about bolstering the offense and providing Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins with another weapon they can rely on.

Ian Cummings of Pro Football Network released his mock draft Friday and felt the Vikings should go offense and select Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

“Jaxon Smith-Njigba‘s tape is good — so good that even a merely respectable Combine showing could boost his chances of staying in Round 1. He’s a great fit for the Vikings, who need a dependable chain-mover to complement Justin Jefferson’s big-play ability.”

Smith-Njigba would be a player who could step in on day one and immediately impact this Vikings offense. He’s a smooth wide receiver with great hands who can give the Vikings a trio of weapons with Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson for the next decade.

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Pro Football Network has Vikings reaching for cornerback in latest mock draft

The Vikings got mocked their 12th different cornerback in the first round

The Minnesota Vikings are in dire need of bolstering their cornerback depth, as they currently only have three corners under contract for the 2023 season. With the NFL Draft and Free Agency fast approaching, the Vikings will need to focus on securing talented players to strengthen their defensive unit.

Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network released a mock draft on Tuesday, attempting to help the Vikings by selecting Michigan cornerback D.J. Turner
“I like DJ Turner more than most. He’s a polished corner with outstanding ball skills despite being under the radar. Minnesota absolutely has to add more competition at the position this offseason, and Turner could be a Day 1 starter.”

There is no denying that this cornerback class is deep and that many people have varying assessments of the players. Many experts believe Turner is primarily a day-two prospect. A lot can change between now and the NFL Draft, but if the Vikings reached for a cornerback on day one, there wouldn’t be very many happy fans.

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