Biggest remaining needs for the Vikings after round one in the NFL Draft

The first day of the 2025 NFL Draft is officially in the books, and it didn't come without some drama. Though a more tame draft than many years in recent memory, there were still some trades in the first round to give fans some excitement, along with some selections that may have had fans scratching their heads. For their part, the Minnesota Vikings weren't involved in either of those. Minnesota stayed where they were with the 24th pick in the first round, and they selected a guy in Donovan Jackson who fills arguably their biggest need coming into the 2025 NFL Draft: the interior offensive line.

Jackson will come in and immediately battle with Blake Brandel -- and possibly Dalton Risner -- for a starting spot at offensive guard, likely opposite free agent signing Will Fries. While the pick takes care of a huge need for the Vikings, it obviously doesn't address every hole in the roster the Vikings came into the draft with. They still have a number of areas in which the roster can improve, and still have limited draft capital with which to make those improvements. Going into day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft, what are the biggest areas of need remaining for the Minnesota Vikings?

Safety

After the interior of the offensive line, the defensive backfield for the Minnesota Vikings was the biggest glaring weakness coming into the 2025 NFL Draft. They lost Camryn Bynum in the offseason to the Indianapolis Colts, and legend Harrison Smith isn't going to be around forever. Joshua Metellus is a great chess piece for the team, but he's at his best when he's allowed to play all over the field and create matchup nightmares -- not when he's confined to playing one position exclusively.

Coming into the first night of the draft, South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori was a popular pick for the Vikings in mock drafts. So much so that it was nearly a foregone conclusion that he would be the pick as long as he was still on the board. When the Vikings' turn came, he was still on the board, and they passed him up. He's still available heading into the second round; will the Vikings get a chance to take him?

Cornerback

If safety was the most significant need on defense coming into the 2025 NFL Draft for the Vikings, cornerback wasn't far behind. A case can be made that it's a bigger position of need than safety, given that it was a problem point for the team in 2024, and they didn't do much in the offseason to address the issue. They did sign Isaiah Rodgers from the Philadelphia Eagles and Jeff Okudah from the Houston Texans. Still, neither player has been a standout in the league, or really shored up the position.

Lucky for the Vikings, there were only a couple of cornerbacks taken in the first round, so they should have their pick from a lot of talented guys remaining.

Defensive Tackle

Between what the Vikings did in free agency to shore up holes in the roster and them taking an interior offensive lineman in the first round, there aren't many other holes in the roster remaining. You can make a case for them drafting a running back in a deep class, but they acquired Jordan Mason in the offseason from the San Francisco 49ers. You could say they need another wide receiver, and this class has plenty of them as well, but with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, and Aaron Jones out of the backfield, there are only so many balls to go around. Taking a wide receiver may not be the best allocation of resources.

Minnesota needed to improve in the trenches on both sides of the ball compared to 2024. They've certainly done that on the offensive side by signing center Ryan Kelly, the aforementioned Will Fries, and drafting Donovan Jackson in the first round. They also improved on the defensive line in the offseason, signing Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in free agency. That said, if you were going to single out any other position as one of need, it would probably be defensive tackle.

Harrison Phillips, though a star for the Vikings for many years now, isn't getting any younger. They signed Hargrave in the offseason, but he's even older than Phillips, and only played in three games last season. They do have Levi Drake Rodriguez and Jalen Redmond on the roster, who showed flashes last season, but taking another defensive tackle on day 2 may be in the team's best interest.

This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: Top remaining needs for the Vikings after day one of the NFL Draft