The Minnesota Vikings are going into rookie minicamp and they have made things significantly easier on themselves from a teambuilding perspective. The Vikings announced on Thursday evening that they have signed four of their five draft picks to their rookie contracts:
- Third-round pick WR Tai Felton
- Fifth-round pick DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
- Sixth-round pick ILB Kobe King
- Sixth-round pick TE Gavin Bartholomew
Vikings sign four NFL Draft picks
The Vikings have made a habit of signing a good portion of their draft picks on the eve of rookie minicamp, and it's a smart strategy. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah now only has to focus on signing first-round pick Donovan Jackson.
Signing mid and late-round picks is relatively easy. The only things you can really negotiate are the size of the signing bonus and specific offset language. Those are less prevalent as you get later in the NFL Draft, as the size of the contract and talent of the player lessen.
The Vikings' four picks outside the top 100 all have a pathway to being productive as rookies.
- Felton can potentially compete to win the WR3 job. It isn't likely to happen during training camp, but throughout the year he could earn that job with how inconsistent Jalen Nailor is.
- Ingram-Dawkins projects very well as both a developmental player, but also fill the roles of Jihad Ward and Pat Jones II as a bigger player who can handle playing on the interior in the NASCAR package.
- King is likely to be the fourth linebacker on the roster, but he fits the mold of a really good special teams player, which his skillset can maximize.
- Bartholomew projects to be more of an H-back tight end, but he can be versatile. It wouldn't be surprising to see him fill Johnny Mundt's role.
