The Caleb Banks Pick Isn’t a *Total* Disaster
Having had a bit of time to think about it, I think I can understand a bit where the front office was coming from when picking Caleb Banks.
PROS
INJURY - The Vikings front office knows way more about his injuries than I ever could, so maybe they took a long hard look at it and are confident it won’t be a recurring problem.
POTENTIAL - Based on some of the flashes he showed at Florida and his insane athletic measurements (see Bill Parcells’ Planet Theory), Banks has the ceiling of being one of the top DTs in football. Especially in a draft as wide open as this, I can easily see him being DT1 on the Vikings’ big board.
VALUE - Thieneman aside, I don’t think the board panned out particularly well for the Vikings, and most picks would’ve been a reach (unfortunately I don’t think receiver was ever really in play). So I think the Vikings looked at the board and saw that in the second round, the DTs really falls off a cliff after Christen Miller (who’ll likely be gone before pick 50), whereas there’s a good deal of value available at Safety, Cornerback, and Linebacker in the middle of the second round. So they chose to go with the more scarce position in the first (addressing a major need), then try to pick up value in the second round.
CONS
INJURY - Yeah I know I said they know more about his injury than me, but man taking a 300+ pound DT whose had multiple foot injuries in the last year makes me really nervous
DEVELOPMENT - I don’t think his timeline matches well with the Vikings - he’s a raw athlete who may need some time to develop, similar to Dallas Turner, but the Vikings seem to be in a “Win Now” mode. Also, there’s no guarantee that he actually develops into the player his potential says he could be, and in that case the floor there is relatively low.
OPPORTUNITY COST - Unfortunately this feels like 2022 all over again, trying to get too cute and extract a bit of extra value when you could’ve just sat and taken the best player on the board (Thieneman). At least this time they didn’t trade back for a bad haul and take a worse player at the same position they were looking at originally?
Overall, I can see where they were coming from with the pick, and don’t think the process is as bad as 2022. There are also several picks the Vikings could make on day 2 that help make this look a bit better. However, I still don’t think this was a great choice.
Grade: a high C+ that I’m refusing to round up to a B-