Vikings Round Out 15-Man Draft Class With Nate Stanley, Brian Cole, and Kyle Hinton

The Vikings just broke the NFL record for the most players selected in a seven-round draft by taking their 13th, 14th, and 15th players of the night. Those selections were Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley, Mississippi State safety Brian Cole II, and Washburn University guard Kyle Hinton.

With the 244th overall pick, Rick Spielman drafted a quarterback for the first time since taking Teddy Bridgewater in the first round in 2014. Stanley started the last three years at Iowa, leading the Hawkeyes to a 27-12 record during that span. He is the definition of a solid, unspectacular quarterback. Stanley threw for 68 touchdowns and 23 picks, never reaching a completion percentage of 60 or 3,000 passing yards in a season.

Stanley has good size at 6'4", 235 pounds, and a big arm. He also shows nice touch on deep and intermediate throws, but never reached the level of consistency or processing that suggests he'll last very long in the league. The Vikings will look to mold his physical tools, and Stanley will compete with Jake Browning for the third QB role.

At 249 overall, the Vikings took Cole, a safety who took an interesting journey to get to this point. He began his career at Michigan, spent a season with the cameras of Netflix's 'Last Chance U' at East Mississippi Community College, and finished his career with two seasons in the SEC. Cole joins his college teammate Cameron Dantzler in joining the Vikings' secondary during this draft. He has the size (6'2", 213) and physicality to potentially have some upside as a box safety.

Finally, with their 15th pick and the third-to-last selection of the draft (No. 253), the Vikings took their first guard of the weekend in Hinton. He comes from Washburn, a Division-II school in Topeka, Kansas. He's a good fit as a zone-blocking guard with his 4.88 speed. This was a low-risk pick, and Hinton has the physical traits and intelligence to potentially stick in the NFL, though he'll be facing a massive jump in competition.

These are players that the Vikings would've normally signed as college free agents, but targeted in this year's draft because of the uncertainly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Here's the final list of 15 players drafted by the Vikings this year.

Thursday, April 23rd

Round 1, Pick 22 (via BUF): Justin Jefferson, WR, LSU
Round 1, Pick 31 (via SF): Jeff Gladney, CB, TCU

Friday, April 24th

Round 2, Pick 58: Ezra Cleveland, OT, Boise State
Round 3, Pick 89: Cameron Dantzler, CB, Mississippi State

Saturday, April 25th

Round 4, Pick 117 (via SF): DJ Wonnum, EDGE, South Carolina
Round 4, Pick 130 (via NO): James Lynch, DT, Baylor
Round 4, Pick 132: Troy Dye, LB, Oregon
Round 5, Pick 169 (via NO): Harrison Hand, CB, Temple
Round 5, Pick 176 (via SF): KJ Osborn, WR, Miami
Round 6, Pick 203 (via NO): Blake Brandel, OT, Oregon State
Round 6, Pick 205: Josh Metellus, S, Michigan
Round 7, Pick 225 (via BAL): Kenny Willekes, EDGE, Michigan State
Round 7, Pick 244 (via NO): Nate Stanley, QB, Iowa
Round 7, Pick 249 (compensatory): Brian Cole II, S, Mississippi State
Round 7, Pick 253 (compensatory): Kyle Hinton, G, Washburn

Nine of the 15 selections were used on defensive players.

Thanks for following along with our coverage of the Vikings' 2020 draft! There is plenty more to come in the form of analysis, player-focused stories, and much more.

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