What happened to the Vikings' 2022 draft class?
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is heading into his third draft season leading Minnesota, and it comes with more pressure than ever as he holds the No. 11 overall pick is trying to rewrite a narrative that so far questions his drafting acumen.
The 2022 draft class, Adofo-Mensah's first, by all accounts has been a disaster. Only three players from that class have played meaningful roles: second-round guard Ed Ingram, fourth-round cornerback Akayleb Evans and fifth-round running back Ty Chandler. And none of them are blue chip starters.
2022 Vikings draft class
- Rd 1 Pick 32 Lewis Cine - Safety
- Rd 2 Pick 42 Andrew Booth Jr. - Cornerback
- Rd 2 Pick 59 Ed Ingram - Guard
- Rd 3 Pick 66 Brian Asamoah - Linebacker
- Rd 4 Pick 118 Akayleb Evans - Cornerback
- Rd 5 Pick 165 Esezi Otomewo - Defensive Tackle
- Rd 5 Pick 169 Ty Chandler - Running Back
- Rd 6 Pick 184 Vederian Lowe - Offensive Line
- Rd 6 Pick 191 Jalen Nailor - Wide Receiver
- Rd 7 Pick 227 Nick Muse - Tight End
Ingram has played the most snaps of the entire class, starting all but two games since entering the league. The biggest miss is Cine in the first round. The former Georgia standout has played 10 defensive snaps in his career to this point, with the caveat that his rookie season was cut short after four games due to a horrific leg injury.
In a look at what went wrong with the 2022 class, Purple Insider's Matthew Coller said next season is "officially make or break" for Cine.
"As far as Vikings busts go, and it's not over yet, this would be one of the biggest ever considering that he was on the team and he was healthy and they just refused to put him on the field," said Coller. "The smoking gun for how they felt about Lewis Cine is Theo Jackson, who was picked up last year when Cine got hurt – as a guy we never expected to see – and played many more snaps in a rotational type of role for this team."
Part of the issue for Cine has been a drastic switch in the way the Vikings play defense from his rookie season to his sophomore season. After a horrendous 2022 campaign the Vikings fired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and brought in former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. So what switched between the two? Just about everything.
Minnesota was one of the lowest blitzing teams in 2022, bringing extra rushers on just 18.9% of defensive snaps. In 2023 that number skyrocketed to a league-high 51.5%. Vikings safety Harrison Smith went from rushing the passer a career low 14 times in 2022 up to a career high 99 times in 2023. Flores utilized the Vikings safeties in a much different manner than Donatell had the previous season.
"In Ed Donatell's system the safeties play deep all the time," Coller explained. "Whereas in Brian Flores' system even their free safety, Cam Bynum, is up at the line of scrimmage fairly often. . . So, I think they believed when they drafted him his ability to cover a ton of ground would be a great fit for a deep safety and then they switched systems. But I don't think that's a good enough explanation because the coach on the defensive side is famous for finding roles to fit to skillsets."
While Cine may be the most glaring example of the Vikings' poor draft class, he's certainly not the only one who has struggled. Second-round pick Andrew Booth Jr. was active for just six games during an injury-hampered rookie season and only saw the field for 151 defensive snaps in 2023.
Coller points out remaining healthy for the 2023 season is "small win" and that there is still hope for Booth going forward.
"When he came in and played. . . I thought he played OK. It didn't look like he was in over his head, or lost. I can still see a development track for him," Coller said. "Is [Booth] a complete bust? I wouldn't call it [that] but he is also not exactly trending in the right direction."
The team's other second-round pick also ended the 2023 season showing hope for continued development despite a rough rookie season.
Ingram allowed a league-high 63 pressures his rookies season while finishing with the seventh-worst pass blocking grade (42.6) among guards, according to Pro Football Focus. There was marked improvement in Year 2 for Ingram. In 2023 Ingram as he allowed 42 pressures but his overall pass blocking improved to a 60.9 grade, ranking 37th out of 84 guards.
"This one is tough pick to analyze because if you draft a second-round guard and he plays average football in his second year, you can't look at that and say 'Well, what a bad pick it was,'" Coller said. "With him you can say there is room to grow and build on a lot of reps he's gotten over the first two years."
The Vikings then selected promising young linebacker Brian Asamoah II in the third round and he had flashes in his rookie season but then got overshadowed in his second year by undrafted rookie linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.
Asamoah was expected to take over for the departing Eric Kendricks but instead disappeared down the depth chart, taking just 11 defensive snaps over the final six games of the season.
Fourth-round corner Akayleb Evans beat out Booth at the start of the 2023 season for the starting role and impressed early on before being benched multiple times over the final handful of games.
Esezi Otomewo and Vederian Lowe are no longer on the team after being cut and traded, respectively, at the end of the 2023 training camp. Nick Muse has been mostly inactive throughout his career and Jalen Nailor has suffered with concussions in his first two seasons.
Fifth-round running back Ty Chandler has arguably shown the most upside of the entire class, though that only manifested late in the 2023 season.
So what ultimately went wrong in Adofo-Mensah's first draft?
"I don't think we can say 'You're off the hook because drafting can be random' when the process was very questionable on draft night," said Coller. "But I think then you look at the 2023 draft and the process looks a heck of a lot better."
The Class of 2023 includes budding star receiver Jordan Addison and talented cornerback Mehki Blackmon. The jury is still out on the other picks: safety Jay Ward, defensive lineman Jaquelin Roy, quarterback Jaren Hall and running back DeWayne McBride.
