Minnesota Vikings 7-round 2024 NFL mock draft pre-free agency: Trade up for QB

Round 4, Pick 109: Tykee Smith, S, Georgia

Flores worked some miracles with the Vikings defense at various points last season to make that unit at least respectable. Perhaps the most glaring weakness for the group overall that Flores had to overcome, though, is the secondary. Byron Murphy Jr. struggled in his first season in Minnesota, but the safety room was even more glaring, especially as Harrison Smith continues to show more signs of his age.

It's simply a position group where the Vikings need to add younger talent with more upside, which Tykee Smith brings to the table. While at Georgia, Smith consistently graded out as a terrific player in coverage and heeld his own in the run game. He's not the most explosive athlete, but you can see the high football IQ and passable physical tools. Particularly with a year buffer to learn from Smith and Flores, he could be special, specifically for a fourth-round pick, in this defense for years to come.

Round 5, Pick 157: Tyrone Tracy, RB, Purdue

Running back has quickly become a need for the Vikings over the past year. The team made the obvious decision to part ways with Dalvin Cook after seeing signs of his decline in the 2022 season, thus hitching their wagon to Alexander Mattison. That was an ill-fated plan, though, and now Mattison is on the free agent market following his own release. So unless the organization believes in Cam Akers as a bell-cow RB1, this is an area to address.

Lucky for Minnesota, Tyron Tracy looks like the goods. Certainly not the biggest name in the 2024 draft's running back class, he put on one of the best top-to-bottom performances at the NFL Combine, running a 4.48-second 40 at 209 pounds with a 40-inch vertical and 10-foot-4 broad jump. He's explosive, and you can see that on his film too. Adding that element to this offense would help McCarthy and the offense as a whole to become adequately balanced and, frankly, more dangerous.