The Minnesota Vikings made a bold call with their first pick in last April’s NFL Draft, betting on Caleb Banks as the kind of talent worth the risk.
Banks arrived with plenty of intrigue and plenty of baggage. The 6-foot-6, 330-pound defensive lineman from Florida was limited to three games in 2025 because of a broken foot. He had flashed big-time ability at Senior Bowl practices, then watched that momentum stall when he re-broke the foot while running the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine.
Minnesota still went for it, taking him 18th overall. Kevin O'Connell and interim GM Rob Brzezinski made it clear the team believed its medical staff had Banks past the injury and on track to be ready for training camp.
So far, that faith has held up. Banks has been a full participant in camp and has played 55 defensive snaps across three preseason games. He said after Minnesota’s second preseason game that he still needed to get back into football shape and would have to keep working on his conditioning.
Now the story has shifted from the foot to the fit.
ESPN’s Kevin Seifert wrote over the weekend that Banks appears to have fully recovered, with the attention turning to how much he can grow inside Brian Flores’ defense. "Banks has mostly looked like a player who didn't see much action last season," Seifert said.
"In the preseason opener, he played high and was consistently driven off the ball. His performance improved the following week, and there's hope Banks will continue along that trajectory."
The preseason grades back up that mixed-but-improving picture. PFF gave Banks a 36.7 overall grade, though that number climbed each week from 30.4 to 48.1 to 55.3.
That doesn’t guarantee the same rise once the regular season starts. But for now, the biggest pre-draft concern looks like it’s in the rearview mirror.
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