What Vikings like about each member of their five-man 2025 draft class

The Vikings' 2025 draft class is complete. After making three trades over the last two days, GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Minnesota went from having four picks to drafting five players, as well as acquiring fourth-year quarterback Sam Howell in one of those deals.

Here's a look at their class, which will be supplemented by a bunch of undrafted free agents.

Round 1, Pick 24: Donovan Jackson, G, Ohio State
Round 3, Pick 102: Tai Felton, WR, Maryland
Round 5, Pick 139: Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, DL, Georgia
Round 6, Pick 201: Kobe King, LB, Penn State
Round 6, Pick 202: Gavin Bartholomew, TE, Pitt

And here's a little bit about each pick and what the Vikings like about that player.

1.24: Ohio State G Donovan Jackson

The success of this draft class for Minnesota will largely hinge on whether or not Jackson pans out as a quality starting guard for a long time. They believe he has all the makings of an excellent player at left guard, where he'll almost certainly beat out Blake Brandel to be the Vikings' Week 1 starter. He also has the flexibility to play tackle, if needed, after moving to that position last year due to injuries to Ohio State teammates. You can read a deep dive into why the Vikings picked Jackson here, with plenty of quotes from Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O'Connell.

3.102: Maryland WR Tai Felton

The case for Felton is about production, athleticism, and special teams value. He had a huge season at Maryland last year, catching 96 passes for 1,124 yards and nine touchdowns. He runs a sub-4.4 40-yard dash and has a nearly 40-inch vertical, which shows up on tape. Felton is a weapon with the ball in his hands who is capable of bouncing off of would-be tacklers and making things happen after the catch. His hands are a bit inconsistent and he could use some added strength to beat press coverage, but he's a shifty athlete with the straight-line speed to be a deep threat on offense and a valuable gunner on special teams.

"Speed and playmaking ability," Felton said is what he brings to the table. "Whenever you put the ball in my hands, I'm gonna make defenders miss and my intention is to go score. And just my ability to play all special teams as well, I feel like that brings a lot of value to my game. Whether that's running down on kick returns, gunner, catching punts, catching kicks, I feel like I can do it all."

Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell was absolutely a factor in this pick. He'll go to work with Felton and try to further his development in all areas of playing the position. What's encouraging is that his numbers improved in all four of his seasons at Maryland and he has athletic traits that can't be taught.

"He's also good with the ball in his hand, he's not just a vertical speed guy, he can run routes," Vikings executive Ryan Grigson said. "I think having Keenan coach him up and refine his game, he's gonna be able to do a lot of things for us in this offense. ... He's twitchy. But the 4.3 (40) is something that's gonna catch your eye."

Taking a wide receiver made sense for the Vikings, given that Jalen Nailor is going into the final year of his contract and Jordan Addison could be facing an NFL suspension this season. Felton's immediate role in Minnesota's offense is to be determined, but he'll definitely contribute quite a bit on special teams right away, perhaps even as a returner.

5.139: Georgia DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins

Ingram-Dawkins might be viewed by some as a bit of a tweener, considering he's around 6'5" and 280 pounds. The Vikings simply view him as an impactful football player. Although he spent a lot of time playing on the edge at Georgia last season, it feels like his best fit in Brian Flores' defense will be to line up against guards as an interior pass-rush specialist and use his outstanding athletic traits to get after the quarterback.

The physical tools with Ingram-Dawkins are pretty elite. He's explosive, agile, and has some power to his game as well. Ingram-Dawkins had to wait his turn at Georgia, which is always loaded with excellent defensive linemen, but after dealing with an injury in 2023, he became a starter last season and showed some very impressive flashes of upside. The Vikings brought Ingram-Dawkins in on a top-30 visit and see a lot of potential.

"Somebody that was really intriguing to us in the film process," Adofo-Mensah said. "Versatility is something that we crave for our defense, and he stuck out as somebody who's able to do that. Able to set the edge working outside-in, and then in the rush game, has some ability to win over the guard with a unique skill set. And it's not refined yet, but there's some stuff in there that's pretty unique. We think he's an incrediblly intelligent player and his best football's in front of him."

Ingram-Dawkins is a bit of a project for Flores and the Vikings' defensive line coaches, and there seems to be a pretty high ceiling if they can maximize his tools. He'll get to come in and learn from players like Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave while ideally carving out some sort of role on passing downs in his rookie season.

6.201: Penn State LB Kobe King

King is a bit of a throwback linebacker who is an outstanding run defender. His 90.8 PFF run defense grade since 2023 is second among all LBs during that span. King is a thumper with a quick first step to make plays coming downhill; he's got the vision to sift through blocks and the physicality to shed them when he gets engaged by an offensive player. He had nine tackles for loss for Penn State last season and three of those were sacks, which says a little about the impact he can make as a blitzer.

"A lot of times in football we make it harder than it is, but it's a meat and potatoes game at some positions, and linebacker is one of them," Adofo-Mensah said. "You need somebody to tackle the person trying to advance the ball up the field against your team. (King is) somebody that plays with range, tackles, he's a really physical, knock-back, impact tackler. We're excited to add him not just to our fourth-down units (special teams), but also potentially to be a starter one day in this league."

6.202: Pitt TE Gavin Bartholomew

Last but not least, Bartholomew is a logical addition for the Vikings, who needed a No. 3 tight end. He's an excellent athlete with size, speed, and some explosiveness to his game as a pass-catcher. He also improved over the course of his college career as a blocker — and continued development in that phase will be critical if he's going to see the field in O'Connell's offense. He didn't stuff the stat sheet as a receiver at Pitt, but he appears to have the tools to be a solid backup tight end in the NFL.

Adofo-Mensah said Vikings receiver Jordan Addison "lit up" when asked about Bartholomew, his former college teammate.

"We think he can be a hybrid Y/F tight end for us," Adofo-Mensah said. "He's got some route-running ability. We think he's got a lot of ability in his body, and his pro day showed a lot of that. We think our coaches are some of the best in the league to get that out of him. And we think he's got a lot of lower-body strength to help him in the run game. Just a good athlete, a good football player."