CBS Sports gives the Minnesota Vikings 2024 NFL Draft a new grade

The 2024 NFL Draft was one of the more momentous drafts in recent memory for several teams. The quarterbacks at the top were expected to be franchise-altering, and the depth at other positions was going to allow for more starters to be found throughout it.

CBS Sports' draft analyst Ryan Wilson decided that after Week 12 of the 2025 season was a good time to go back and re-grade the selections from that class. For the Vikings, their draft was expected to set the tone for the team's quick rebuild under Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, starting with quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

Wilson writes on McCarthy, saying, "McCarthy missed the entirety of his rookie season after suffering a knee injury during the preseason. He was named the starter in 2025 after the Vikings let Sam Darnold sign with the Seahawks. It's been rough going so far in 2025, and this may be a multi-year, multi-step process to get McCarthy playing at the level of Darnold or Kirk Cousins before him in Minnesota. Luckily, Kevin O'Connell is his coach, and he's preached frequently about the importance of being patient with young quarterbacks."

Of course, the Vikings have a second first-round draft pick, whom they traded up for: Dallas Turner. The edge rusher struggled as a rookie but has found his footing in his sophomore season. Wilson gave him the grade of a C- and offered a mixed review of his selection.

"As a rookie, Turner saw limited snaps (he played 270 fewer snaps than the next closest rookie pass rusher, Chop Robinson), only managed 2.0 sacks, and his success rate, both as a pass rusher and against the run, ranked near the bottom of the league. Through Week 11 of the 2025 season, he's already played 167 more snaps than he did as a rookie. He's also improved his sack totals (up to 2.5 so far), and his pressure rate has improved from 9.6% to 14.4%. Turner is still scratching the surface of what he's capable of, but he has shown modest improvements from 2024 to 2025."

The class of McCarthy and Turner needs to give this team better results, and so far they haven't. Faith is there for Dallas Turner to be a meaningful defender on the unit, but McCarthy may be too far gone to come back from it all and salvage his grade.

This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: CBS Sports gives the Vikings 2024 NFL Draft a new grade