NFL Player Comparisons for Every 2026 Minnesota Vikings Draft Pick

Comparing yet-to-debut NFL prospects to players who have already spent time in the league can be a fun and useful way to establish what a reasonable high-end outcome might look like for said prospects. So today, we're going to do just that and give each of the Vikings' nine recent draft picks an NFL player comp.

These are inherently going to be pretty optimistic. But at the same time, the goal of this exercise was to be fairly realistic as well. We're not going to compare these rookies to superstars or Hall of Famers, because that would be unfair. Without further ado, let's begin.

Caleb Banks: Jordan Davis

The pinnacle outcome for Banks, the Vikings' first-round pick, would be Chiefs star and future Hall of Famer Chris Jones, a six-time All-Pro. Both are 6'6", long-armed interior pass rushers, and there are some reps on Banks' tape that are reminiscent of Jones. But again, that's the 100th-percentile outcome for this year's 18th overall pick.

A more realistic comp that would still be a solid outcome for Banks is Davis, the 6'6", 340-pound DT the Eagles took 13th overall out of Georgia in 2022. Davis has earned a PFF grade above 70 in all four of his NFL seasons and set career highs in sacks (4.5), TFL (9), pass breakups (6), and pressures (28) in 2025. He's not a star, but he's a quality player in the middle of Philadelphia's defensive line who may still be ascending at 26 years old.

Jordan Davis | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Jake Golday: Andrew Van Ginkel

This is probably going to be the loftiest comparison we'll make in this article. Van Ginkel was a second-team All-Pro in 2024, finishing seventh in DPOY voting. He is a uniquely talented and versatile outside linebacker who is the only player in the NFL with 24 sacks and 24 passes defended over the past three seasons. There's no one quite like him.

But when Kevin O'Connell says the Vikings see similar characteristics to Van Ginkel in Golday, that stands out in a big way. They have some similar traits in terms of size and athleticism, and Golday was all over the field for Cincinnati last year with 6 TFL, 3.5 sacks, and 3 passes defended. He graded well as a run defender and coverage player while also recording 18 pressures as a pass rusher.

The separator for Van Ginkel is his intelligence and instincts, so we'll have to see if Golday can come close in that area. Still, the tools are there, and he has a great opportunity to learn from Brian Flores and Van Ginkel himself.

Domonique Orange: Dalvin Tomlinson

Vikings fans will remember Tomlinson being an impactful player in the middle of their defensive line in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The former second-round pick is nine years into his career and just signed with the Chargers for his tenth season. His production dipped a bit last year with the Cardinals, but Tomlinson has mostly been a consistently good defensive tackle for almost a decade.

At Alabama, Tomlinson had just 10.5 TFL and 4 sacks. Orange, the Vikings' first of three third-round picks, had just 7 TFL and 1 sack at Iowa State, but his impact went well beyond the box score. Both are big, physical nose tackles who do a lot of the early-down dirty work of eating up blocks and being hard to move. The Vikings believe "Big Citrus" has the traits to develop some pass-rush ability, and it would be a win if he becomes a guy like Tomlinson with strong run defense and 2-3 sacks per year.

An even loftier comparison for Orange would be former three-time Vikings Pro Bowler Pat Williams, an elite run defender who formed half of the Williams Wall in the late 2000s.

Caleb Tiernan: Matt Goncalves

Tiernan's combination of 6'8" height and extremely short arms is somewhat unique, but we were able to find a solid comp within just the last couple years. Goncalves played tackle at Pittsburgh, was a third-round pick in 2024, and served as a swing tackle as a rookie. He's 6'6" and has short arms, so he moved to right guard in his second season and was a solid starter for the Colts there last year.

The Vikings plan on starting Tiernan out at tackle, which is where he played at Northwestern, but they've indicated that they could be open to trying him out at guard in the future. His lack of arm length could make that his optimal NFL position.

Jakobe Thomas: Jalen Pitre

Thomas was a somewhat surprising pick as the Vikings' fifth and final top-100 selection in this draft, but when you dive into his resume, he makes a lot of sense as a Flores defensive back. He's coming off a huge season at Miami where he showed off his abilities as a ball hawk (5 INTs) and a blitzer (14 pressures, 3.5 sacks). The other thing that stands out when you watch him play and hear him talk is his aggressive mentality and willingness to light up offensive players in the open field.

Pitre is one of the biggest thumpers at the safety position in the NFL today. He was a second-round pick by the Texans in 2022 who has become a key part of DeMeco Ryans' defense. Pitre has 10 INTs, 33 PDs, and 20 TFL in his four seasons with Houston. This is another fairly lofty comp, as it would be a big win for the Vikings if Thomas becomes even 80-90 percent of the player Pitre is.

Jalen Pitre | Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

Max Bredeson: Reggie Gilliam

Bredeson, the Vikings' first pick on Day 3, is stepping into C.J. Ham's shoes as Minnesota's fullback. But Ham might not be a perfect comparison, as he came up as a running back in college. Bredeson played as an inline tight end at Michigan while also lining up in the backfield. That makes him more like Gilliam, a 244-pound fullback/tight end at Toledo who latched on with the Bills as an undrafted free agent and has been a quality NFL fullback for the last six years.

Charles Demmings: Sean Murphy-Bunting

It's not a perfect comparison, as Demmings was a fifth-round pick and Murphy-Bunting was a second-round selection back in 2019. But both played at smaller programs (Stephen F. Austin and Central Michigan, respectively) and are very similar in their size (around 6 feet and 195 pounds) and their elite athleticism (4.4 speed, 42-inch vertical). Murphy-Bunting is a solid NFL corner who played four seasons with Tampa Bay and has spent time with with the Titans and Cardinals since then. He has 11 career interceptions and 8 forced fumbles.

Demond Claiborne: Brashard Smith

Claiborne, the Vikings' sixth-round pick, has a lot of similar traits to Smith, who the Chiefs took in the seventh round last year. Both are small, explosive backs with sub-4.4 speed. Smith only had one year of heavy workload as a runner in college, compared to three for Claiborne, and Smith is more of a hybrid player who spent some time at wide receiver at Miami before transferring to SMU. Still, the general idea of both players is as a bursty change-of-pace back. Smith had 69 touches for Kansas City as a rookie.

Gavin Gerhardt: Michael Jurgens

This is a tricky one to find a good comparison for, so how about we just go with the last center the Vikings selected in the seventh round? Both Gerhardt and Jurgens are around 6'4" and 310 pounds and were multi-year starting centers in college.

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