The Vikings are heading into Week 1 against the Packers with eight draft picks on the 53-man roster, and that kind of youth gives Minnesota a lot of options - and a lot of uncertainty. With the official depth chart still not out, the cleanest way to think about these rookies and first-year players is by projecting their snap counts.
Only one member of the draft class did not survive the cut to the 53-man roster. Center Gavin Gerhardt, a seventh-round pick, was released by Minnesota and signed to the Texans’ practice squad on Tuesday.
At the top of the class, Caleb Banks is expected to have a limited role to start. The first-round pick struggled in the preseason, including a 30.4 Pro Football Focus Grade in Week 1, and he has said he still has work to do.
Minnesota should still use him as a rotational piece, giving Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins some breathers while letting Banks get more live NFL reps. Just don’t expect a heavy workload in the opener.
Jake Golday is the hardest rookie to pin down. He could fill in for Eric Wilson or Blake Cashman, but that’s only part of the picture.
Golday is also likely to get work on the edge and on special teams, which should make his snap total look bigger than a typical reserve linebacker’s. Even without a start, he may end up with the most defensive snaps of any Vikings draft pick this season because the team views him as a hybrid contributor.
Domonique Orange should also be part of the interior rotation right away. The six-foot-two, 322-pound defender projects as the primary backup to Levi Drake Rodriguez, and Minnesota will likely lean on him often to keep the defensive line fresh against Green Bay’s run game.
Caleb Tiernan, a third-round pick, appears to be on the outside looking in for game day. He is a candidate to be inactive because he sits behind free-agent signing Ryan Van Demark, who previously played for the Bills, on the tackle depth chart.
Even if Tiernan is active, he would be a surprise to actually get into the game unless Minnesota uses him as a blocker on punt units. For Week 1, the expectation is that he won’t play.
Jakobe Thomas faces a similar squeeze on defense, even though the return of veteran safety Harrison Smith is a good thing for the rookie in another sense. Thomas now has a Hall of Fame-caliber player to learn from, but snaps on defense will be tough to come by with Smith, Josh Metellus, and Theo Jackson ahead of him. Special teams should still give him a path onto the field against the Packers.
Max Bredeson is the one draft pick who looks like an expected starter, and his role should mirror what C.J. Ham handled in previous seasons.
Ham played 11 games last year for Minnesota, finishing with 184 offensive snaps and 182 special teams snaps. He averaged 33 snaps per game, including 17 on offense, and Bredeson could approach that kind of usage.
Still, with the hope that Minnesota won’t be punting or returning kickoffs as much as it did last year, a projection around 30 snaps makes sense.
Charles “Chuck” Demmings has turned heads in camp, and that buzz could carry over into real playing time. Reports of sticky coverage and his willingness to chase every play have raised expectations, and Minnesota may view him as one of its better backup options. That should put him in line for work on defense and special teams, especially in sub packages with extra defensive backs or when the starters come off the field.
Demond Claiborne brings a different kind of value as a speed option behind Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. Ty Chandler is the closest recent comparison, though Chandler’s usage last season was modest in the big picture: two games, 42 offensive snaps and 27 special teams snaps.
Matching that kind of total would be a stretch for Claiborne, so a smaller role feels more realistic. A projection of 20 offensive snaps fits that expectation better.
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