Everyone knows the Lions side of this. We take Jamo at 12 and Paschal at 46. Neither player has shone, but both have contributed to some extent and are regarded as potential breakout players for the coming season. We’ve discussed and will continue to discuss both players at length on here, this isn’t about them.
The Vikings side:
Picked S Lewis Cine at 32
Traded 34 to the Packers (they took WR Christian Watson) for 53 and 59
Spent their own 3rd (77) to move up from 53 to take CB Andrew Booth at 42
Picked G Ed Ingram at 59
Picked LB Brian Asamoah at 66.
Lewis Cine has played 10 snaps on defense in his two years as a Viking! 10! He missed a whole chunk of his rookie season because of injury, but last year he was a healthy scratch for most of the season. There’s a good chance he doesn’t make the final 53 this year.
Booth also missed a large chunk of his rookie year, but was healthy for all of 2023 and played just 13% of defensive snaps. He appears to be number 5 on the Vikings outside CB depth chart, and is also not guaranteed to make the final 53.
Ingram is barely an NFL starting caliber guard. He has been the starting RG for two seasons, but his PFF pass blocking (60.9) and run blocking (59.1) grades are mediocre, and his position as starting RG is under threat following the offseason addition of Blake Brandel.
Asamoah has been active for 29 games, and racked up just 119 defensive snaps his rookie year, and 36 in 2023. He is a special teams stalwart, but hasn’t made any impact on the LB corps.
Overall, the Vikings:
Turned picks 12, 46 and 77 (3,600 points on the F-S chart) into picks 34, 42, 59 and 66 (4,052). They profited to the value of the 153rd pick
Helped two division rivals drafted coveted WRs
Passed on 1st team All Pro Safety Kyle Hamilton, who went at 14 to the Ravens
Drafted three defensive players who haven’t had any impact whatsoever. Drafted an OG who is barely an NFL starter
If they stand PAT, take Kyle Hamilton and then don’t even make their 2nd and 3rd round picks, they have a huge impact on their defense and don’t help their division rivals.
And the most amazing thing is a lot of Vikings fans see Kwesi the way we see Brad Holmes!
If Jamo does what we think he’s going to do this season then this will definitely be something that gets talked about. Jamo is truly the X factor that can take this offense from great to elite.
Yep. The first year was always going to be a redshirt season for him. The second season started rocky with the 4 game suspension, but he increasingly became a factor late in the season, significantly including the NFC Championship game.
Jamo had a little maturing to do and mimicking of St. Brown’s habits to ingrain. Everything points to upward for Jamo to be the Final Twist of the stretching rack for defensive opponents.
I can remember a Vikings talking head announcing the trade, and looking like WTF? “Did they leave off a pick from next year?”. “There’s got to be more coming back this way”. “Something is not right”. LOL
Really? The purple drank must be strong over there…
Honestly, I’m all for it! Keep that guy around, he’s been great for the Lions!
In the medium term, Kwesi will probably be judged largely based on JJ McCarthy. If JJ is great, no one will care about these draft snafus except crazy people like us. If JJ is mediocre (or the team misses the playoffs for like the next 3 years), Kwesi may be on the hot seat…
It’s hard to judge this in hindsight. We don’t know who BH would have drafted. I wanted Hamilton or Davis, and was so disappointed they drafted Jamo.
Truth is, this has not worked out (so far). Watson (for example) is better than Jamo as of now. And he was a 2nd round pick. Very fast player also.
This is part of the reason we’re hard on Jamo. Rumor was he was a top 10 talent if not for the injury. So when you take into consideration a top 10 talent, 12th overall pick, serious injury, gave up a lot to get him… I expect Justin Jefferson.
I also don’t buy all the “well he missed training camp” stuff either. The guy has speed, but has been a bad player. Like he’s never played WR before. Reminds me so much of Ebron. We all want to give him praise for making some good plays down the stretch, but Jamo gotta step it up big time for me, and I obviously hope he does.
I like to often think about things in this manner.
1- was the plan a good one and did it make sense
2- was the plan executed well?
3- and then finally, was it successful?
I feel like 1 and 2 were a yes from the Vikings. But they clearly need to step back and take a hard look at their drafting choices.
And honestly, if you can be great at 3 then 1 and 2 seem to be good…LOL.
Holmes and his team have been lights out in their drafting and targeting talent. It feels like they have almost no misses. Maybe some who have not progressed as far but they are still in the NFL.
The beauty of Amon-Ra and Jamo is that they are totally different guys. You are right that Jamo cannot do the things that Amon-Ra does and vice versa. But they have the ability to complement each other and take this offense another step forward.
I believe, if only optimistically, that this is the year where Jamo’s impact will be felt. And I believe it will be many things that are not going to show up in the stat sheet. Teams will/should have to respect his speed and ability to take the top off leaving improved situations for Amon-Ra, LaPorta, Gibbs, and maybe Montgomery as well. It may not be in his own numbers, which seems a little unfair, but I am open to rethinking Jamo’s contribution based on his contribution to the improvement of our other weapons as well. We have seen what they can do without him. The contrast may be downright scary.
