How the Vikings almost punted on the chance to draft J.J. McCarthy

Throughout the NFL Draft process, the Minnesota Vikings identified two players they wanted to land in the first round in Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner and Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. During his post draft press conference, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah expounded on the team's approach to the draft this year. It saw the Vikings trade up to land both of these players.

However, the Atlanta Falcons' decision to take Michael Penix Jr. No. 8 overall out of Washington made the Vikings' decision for them. They had to trade up to get McCarthy, which is what they did by moving up a spot to No. 10 in a deal with the New York Jets. Had Atlanta not taken Penix, Minnesota may have ended up picking Turner at No. 11. That would mean Bo Nix would be their quarterback...

Andrew Harbaugh of The Vikings Wire implies that Denver was all-in on taking a quarterback at No. 12. They took Nix out of Oregon with that selection. Although the Las Vegas Raiders came away without a quarterback this year, they probably would have ended up with either Penix or McCarthy at No. 13. Clearly, Minnesota wisely prioritized quarterback first, which allowed them to get Turner, too.

Minnesota had similar grades on both first-rounders it took, but going with McCarthy first was wise.

Minnesota Vikings nearly missed out on drafting J.J. McCarthy last week

All along, I knew that six quarterbacks were going to go in the first round. While I did not expect to see six of the first 12 picks having all been signal-callers, as well as the first 14 picks ended up being all offensive players, Minnesota should be thanking its lucky stars the draft board broke the way it did. Under almost every other scenario, the Vikings would not have ended up with McCarthy and Turner.

While I do think Adofo-Mensah might be blowing smoke about the McCarthy part of it, as I think Minnesota was the team all along that was going to draft him, the Vikings moving up from No. 23 to No. 17 in a deal with Jacksonville to get Turner says everything that needs to be said. This was a player I thought Atlanta would seriously consider taking at No. 8, as opposed to reaching on Penix.

Overall, we are going to have to take Adofo-Mensah's word for it, even if I don't believe him. While Minnesota would have come out of the draft alright taking either McCarthy, Nix or Penix with one of their two first-round draft selections, they would not have been praised as much for their draft if they did not come away with McCarthy and Turner, both of whom they had to move up for in order to get.

All we know is Minnesota taking Turner first might have prevented them from landing McCarthy later.