2 weeks Ago
With the 24th pick in the 2025 NFL draft on Thursday night, the Minnesota Vikings selected Ohio State offensive lineman Donovan Jackson . They didn't trade down. They didn't take a defensive back.
They carried over the theme of their free agency period, which was investing in the trenches over and over again. And in Jackson, they believe they've landed one of the best offensive linemen in this draft class — a guy who can solidify their 2025 O-line and help protect J.J.
McCarthy for a long time. "Donovan Jackson was somebody we identified really early in the process, as we set the vision for this offseason, wanting to play a certain way," GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. "Incredibly poised player, really good in pass protection, recover quickness, all those great things you want.
Can anchor. And in the run game, for kind of a mild-mannered (guy) when he walks in your office, he turns into a different guy on the football field." Jackson is a 6-4, 315-pound lineman who showed during his college career that he can play multiple positions.
He was a standout left guard for the Buckeyes during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, then moved out to left tackle last year after an injury to Ohio State's starter at that spot. He wound up excelling at a second position and playing a major role as his team won the national championship. On tape, there's a lot to like about Jackson's game.
The 22-year-old Texas native has an 88th percentile wingspan of nearly seven feet, and he pairs that length with power, agility, tenacity, and intelligence. He's a mauler in the run game who can anchor in pass protection and has the awareness to pick up stunts. The Vikings hosted Jackson on a top-30 visit before the draft and became enamored with both the player and the person.
One thing that impressed them was his willingness to step up for his team and move out to left tackle last season — not to mention how well he played after making that difficult switch. "Love everything about his play style, his size, he's got length, he's got power," head coach Kevin O'Connell said. "And then the little things that sometimes jump out at you about a player.
Willingness to jump over to the left tackle spot, and the very next week, he's blocking the third pick in tonight's draft (Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter) and competing his tail off. Didn't necessarily need to do that in a year where he was going to be drafted and evaluated the way he was. A lot of things that we're very excited about.
" "You talk about selflessness to the team," Adofo-Mensah said. "These are all things that we say with words, but I think he showed it with action in a big year for him, switching out to left tackle for his team as they went on that march, that journey for the confetti." Jackson will move back to left guard for the Vikings, where he's now a very likely Day 1 starter at that spot, which allows Minnesota to move Blake Brandel into a valuable backup role on the interior.
After the Vikings allowed nine sacks in a blowout loss to the Rams in the wild card round of the playoffs, O'Connell didn't mince words in saying they needed to upgrade the interior of their offensive line. They went out and aggressively did that in free agency by signing center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries, then carried that mindset into this draft. The final spot has now been filled.
And with Jackson joining Kelly, Fries, and tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill, the Vikings feel like they have the makings of a dominant offensive line. "With two really successful free agencies back to back now, that allowed us to go into this with a mindset of adding the best available player, that just happened to be also a player that fits a spot and gets into a competition now to have a group that I think has a chance to be one of the better O-lines in football," O'Connell said. The Vikings were in an interesting position when their pick came up at 24.
A couple intriguing defensive backs were on the board in Georgia safety Malaki Starks (who went 27th to the Ravens) and Michigan cornerback Will Johnson (once a projected top-ten pick, he fell out of the first round entirely due to medical concerns). There was also the much-discussed possibility of trading down. With a league-low four picks in this draft, the Vikings could've looked to move down and accumulate additional draft capital.
Whatever trade offers they may or may not have had, they chose to stay put and take Jackson. Interestingly, the next two teams in line to pick after them both moved down. The Texans traded the 25th pick to the Giants — who were coming up for a quarterback — for 34, 99, and a 2026 third-rounder.
The Rams then traded 26 and 101 to the Falcons for 46 and Atlanta's 2026 first-rounder. What we don't know is whether either of those specific offers were on the table for Minnesota. "People had called, but it really didn't get heated up until right before our pick," Adofo-Mensah said.
"We had really gone through these simulation exercises with Donovan (on the board) and 'what if we got offered X or Y?' In those moments, we really liked the player and were really happy with what we were getting." Although the immediate grades from various analysts were pretty positive, there are legitimate questions that can be raised about this pick. Could the Vikings have traded down instead? Was Jackson a bit of a reach at 24? Was this a pick for need instead of taking the best player available? Is the positional value there when you're taking a guard in the first round? The Vikings clearly feel confident in their answers to all of those questions.
As far as positional value, Adofo-Mensah thinks the gap between guards and tackles isn't what it once was, pointing to some of the hefty contracts that were signed by guards this offseason. "I think you've seen in the free agent market the value that's been assigned to it," he said. "I don't know that the market's going guard/tackle anymore, it's just protector.
The interior (defenders) are getting more athletic, so in theory, the (interior offensive linemen) should be getting more athletic and skilled as well, as that market goes up. Football moves in these cycles. Like pleated pants and flat fronts, now the run game's cool again, so we're going back to it.
" In the modern NFL, where teams are putting such a focus on generating interior pressure, you have to be able to defend those dynamic defensive tackles that seemingly every team has. That puts more importance on the guard position, which was once viewed as a bit of an afterthought. Vikings fans, more than most, know how detrimental poor guard play can be to an entire offense.
"In our league nowadays, every single team, it feels like I talk to you guys (the media) every week and it's another week where I'm talking about interior impact defensive players with length and explosiveness and athleticism," O'Connell said. "You have to be able to combat that with strength and the body type like Donovan has. Envisioning him being on a front with potentially Ryan Kelly and Christian Darrisaw, Will Fries, and Brian O'Neill, that's a pretty formidable group on paper.
We’ve got to make it come to life on the grass." The Jackson selection, paired with what the Vikings did in free agency last month, tells you a lot about their vision for how they want to play football in 2025 and beyond. They want to impose their will up front when they have the ball.
They want their run game to be a driving force, and they want to protect McCarthy and give him every opportunity to thrive as a passer. "Great offensive lines are team lifters," Adofo-Mensah said. "They control the ball, they keep your defense fresh, they establish a play style, a demeanor that we want to be about.
" Was left guard a need for the Vikings? It was. But they also feel like they're adding a great player and a high-character person in Jackson. And when you look at the totality of their offense, it's hard not to think that the ceiling is quite high if McCarthy is the quarterback they believe him to be.
They're already loaded at the skill positions with Justin Jefferson and so many other weapons. Now they feel like they have the offensive line to complete the puzzle. "We've learned over time how people defend us," O'Connell said.
"And the ability to win consistently at the line of scrimmage is going to be something that I think bodes well for not only our ability to run the ball, but our ability to throw the football as well when people feel like they've gotta do different things than maybe they have in the past to defend us." Vikings news, rumors, analysis.
