A quick recap of the first two days of the draft: in the first round, the Vikings addressed the single biggest need by drafting North Carolina State centre Garrett Bradbury with the eighteenth pick. In the second round, the team selected Alabama tight end Irv Smith, Jr. The third round was where things went quickly into horse-trading nirvana for Vikings general manager “Trader Rick” Spielman, with four consecutive trades executed to amass nine draft picks for the remaining rounds. At the end of that flurry of trades, the team selected Boise State running back Alexander Mattison.

The Vikings held the following picks going into the final day of the draft on Saturday:

• Fourth-round (18th/120th overall)
• Fifth-round (21st/159th overall, from Seattle)
• Sixth-round (17th/190th overall)
• Sixth-round (18th/191st overall, from Baltimore)
• Sixth-round (20th/193rd overall, from Baltimore)
• Sixth-round (31st/204th overall, from Detroit)
• Seventh-round (3rd/217th overall, from New York Jets)
• Seventh-round (33rd/247th overall, compensatory for “loss” of Tramaine Brock)
• Seventh-round (36th/250th overall, compensatory for loss of Shamar Stephen)

Given that the team has only a microscopic budget for rookie salaries (pending any contract re-negotiations or trades of veterans), it seems unlikely that the Vikings will actually select nine players with those picks, but it does give Spielman lots of ammunition for packaging multiple picks in order to move up in the draft to get particular players.

To start the day, the Vikings traded their fourth-round pick (120th overall) and one of their sixth-round picks (204th overall) to Seattle to select Oklahoma guard Dru Samia.

Chris Tomasson reported on Samia for the Pioneer Press:

The Vikings added more depth to the offensive line on Saturday with the selection of Oklahoma guard Dru Samia in the fourth round of the NFL draft.

Samia went with the No. 114 overall selection, a pick that originally belonged to Seattle. To get the pick, the Vikings traded the No. 120 selection in the fourth round and the No. 204 pick in the sixth round.

Samia is very athletic. He played on a talented offensive line that protected Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Kyler Murray, who went to Arizona with the No. 1 pick in the draft.

On Twitter, the Vikings themselves pointed out that this is the first draft since 1965 (WR Jack Snow, T Archie Sutton, RB Lance Rentzel and WR Jim Whalen) that they’ve drafted four offensive players with their first four draft picks. The last time the team spent just its first three picks on offensive players was 1993 (RB Robert Smith, WR Qadry Ismail, G John Gerak). Coach Zimmer must be close to escaping from whatever Houdini-style locked box inside a locked room they’ve hidden him in for the last two days… Judd Zulgad went so far as to check that the stadium was still intact and hadn’t been burned down by a rabid football coach.

After yet another trade with New England (swapping the 159th pick for the Patriots’ 162nd and 239th picks), the Vikings finally selected a defensive player for a change: USC Linebacker Cameron Smith.

Sam Ekstrom has the early report on Smith:

Smith was a four-year contributor for the Trojans, having his most productive year as a junior with 112 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and an interception. Knee and hamstring injuries slowed Smith his senior season, though he graded well when healthy.

The 6-2, 238-pounds linebacker ranked 19th nationally in run-stop percentage and 21st in tackling efficiency last year, per Pro Football Focus. His coverage skills were toward the bottom of his class, however, and he wasn’t given many pass-rushing opportunities with just 3.5 sacks in his career.

Smith had the third-highest vertical at the NFL Combine and tied for eighth in the 20-yard shuttle.

With the 190th pick, the Vikings select Arkansas defensive tackle Armon Watts:

Adam Patrick provides a first look at Watts:

At pick No. 190, Minnesota went ahead and added former Arkansas defensive tackle Armon Watts. It was the second-straight selection for the Vikings on the defensive side of the ball after using their first four picks on offensive prospects.

Watts didn’t get a ton of time on the field for Arkansas until his senior season in 2018. The 6-foot-5, 300-pound defensive tackle took advantage of his increase in opportunities last year and finished with 49 total tackles (8.5 for a loss), seven sacks, and three forced fumbles.

Watts will be a good addition to a Minnesota defensive line that will be searching all summer to figure out who will replace Richardson in the starting lineup as the team’s three-technique for 2019.

With the next pick, the selection was Wyoming defensive back Marcus Epps:

With three players selected in such a short span (4 picks), the information available will be a bit slow to come out, especially compared to what’s been published about the higher ranked prospects of the first few rounds. Here’s a squib on Epps from the Mountain West Wire from last year:

Though it’s tempting to say that Epps is perhaps overshadowed by his accoladed teammate at the back of the Cowboys secondary, there’s no doubt his playmaking ability was vital to Wyoming’s defensive successes in 2017. He piled up five tackles for loss, four passes defended, and four interceptions, doing a little of everything for a defensive backfield that ranked 14th nationally in opponents’ passer rating, 17th in opponents’ Passing Down Success Rate (second-and-8 or more, third-and-5 or more, or fourth-and-5 or more) and first in takeaways.

The Vikings’ third pick of the sixth round went on Elon tackle Olisaemeka Udoh:

The NFL’s prospects page entry on Udoh says:

Mammoth right tackle prospect with intriguing developmental traits as both a run blocker and in pass protection. Udoh lacks the quickness for move-blocking duties but has power to generate push against opponents in front of him. There are exploitable holes in his pass sets for the NFL, but his size, length and potential for improvement in that phase are worthy of taking a shot on as a Day 3 draft-and-develop prospect that might require a year on the practice squad.

With their first pick of the seventh round (217th overall), the Vikings selected Texas defensive back Kris Boyd:

Adam Patrick explains why Boyd was the choice:

Boyd was a starter on Texas’ defense since his sophomore season at the school. Last year, the newest Minnesota cornerback appeared in 13 games and racked up a total of 54 tackles (4.5 for a loss), 15 pass breakups, and one sack.

He’s a bit on the smaller side (5-foot-11, 201 pounds) of what Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer seems to look for in a cornerback. But Boyd makes up for his size with his strength and his quickness (4.45 time in the 40-yard dash).

He could be someone that Minnesota looks to as a potential replacement for Alexander in the slot in 2020 if everything works out well. Although, he also has the talent to play on the outside as well.

With the 25th pick in the seventh round (239th overall), the Vikings selected Oregon wide receiver Dillon Mitchell:

The NFL prospect page for Mitchell said:

Early entry receiver hoping to ride the wave of a heavily-targeted, highly productive junior campaign. Mitchell isn’t big, has average speed and loses focus as a pass catcher, but his ball skills show up on tape and he’s a natural talent with the ball in his hands. While his routes are undisciplined at this time, they should get much better with coaching. Mitchell has talent but needs to put the time in and take the coaching in order to become more than a WR4/WR5.

With their second-to-last pick of the draft, the Vikings chose another wide receiver, Colorado State’s Olabisi Johnson:

With their final pick of the draft, the team selected Austin Cutting, a long snapper for the Air Force:

With twelve players in the draft class, this is officially the largest number of drafted rookies since the NFL changed to a seven-round draft format in 1994.

Once the formal draft is over, the scramble for unclaimed free agents begins. Vikings Territory has a page they’ll be updating as the team signs undrafted free agents here.