The 2025 NFL draft has come and gone, and now, plenty of NFL experts and analysts are putting out their opinions about the draft and which teams scored big. For the Minnesota Vikings, the team has gotten some pretty good reviews for its draft class, but there are also some critics, of course.
Regardless of the naysayers, there is one draft pick who is garnering high grades when it comes to the Vikings’ 2025 draft choices, making Kevin O’Connell and company look like winners. This particular players is seen as a good, under-the-radar move and someone who could “overdeliver” on the field.
New Minnesota Vikings Player Could ‘Overdeliver’
In a May 2 feature for Bleacher Report, Brent Sobleski explains his thoughts on each NFL team’s best value selection in the draft. “Each organization has a philosophical approach that will vary, thus creating a prism in how it views prospects,” he stated in the feature. “Once team needs, medical reports and interviews are added to the mix, a front office’s approach will vary greatly.”
For the Vikings, Sobleski loves wide receiver Tai Felton of Maryland. The Vikings drafted him as the final picks in day two of the draft. Felton and Jalen Nailor will duke it out to be the Vikings’ third wide receiver.
“On a Minnesota Vikings roster that already features a fantastic group of offensive weapons in Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson,” he notes, “it’s easy to gloss over the draft selection of another wide receiver in Maryland’s Tai Felton.”
As for what makes a great value pick, it’s all about expectations and delivery. “While looking at some of the biggest value selections of the draft, they can often be found at a devalued positions, specifically running back, which featured a strong position class this year,” Sobleski stated. “A couple of other teams benefit from contemporaries not being as high on the quarterback class.”
Sobleski goes on to say that “Felton has a good chance to overdeliver” in the upcoming season. Sobleski also says that “Felton asserted himself as the top target” in the draft and that in 2024, he “led the squad by a significant margin with 96 receptions—which tied for second among FBS wide receivers—for 1,124 yards and nine touchdowns.”
More on One of the Vikings’ Newest Additions
Not everyone is super hot on Felton. An anonymous NFL executive commented that he believes the wide receiver isn’t fast. “He doesn’t look that fast running routes,” the executive told the New York Times and Athletic in a May 2 piece. “He runs down inside and takes hits, and then when he gets the ball in his hands, he looks 4.37.”
When Felton was selected by the Vikings, he expressed his excitement, stating that he’s “truly blessed to even go to the organization that I’m going to, Minnesota, and to play for coach O’Connell, an offensive minded coach who’s a great guy. And then I get to go back with my guy, Jeshaun Jones, a former Maryland guy, and get to learn from the best, Justin Jefferson. So being in that room, with [Jordan] Addison, a DMV guy. It’s very exciting, and I’m very excited to contribute to the team in any type of way.”
