Coming out of the draft feeling like a winner is almost as much about feeling like you got great value out of your picks as the picks themselves, especially from a fan perspective. There are a lot of different feelings about the Minnesota Vikings’ draft performance, but according to the analytics, they had the best draft in the league through the first three rounds.
From statistics from Warren Sharp on X (formerly Twitter), the Vikings got more value out of their picks in the first three rounds than any other team in the league. Sharp calculated this by comparing the DCOE, or Draft Capital over Expected) comparing where a player was expected to be drafted and the capital expected to be used to get him versus the actual investment.
some have asked what this looks like only at the top of the draft
here you go:
Most Value Extracted from the 1st Three Rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft
top-10 teams in value in both 1st three rounds and full draft:
Vikings
Lions
Steelers
Chiefs
Eagles
Saints
Ravensbottom-10 in… https://t.co/3ccWllAMvO pic.twitter.com/CrguXzmxYb
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) April 28, 2024
According to DCOE, the Vikings picks over the first three rounds, quarterback J.J. McCarthy and EDGE Dallas Turner, netted the Vikings a score of 3.6, more than a half-point better than the next closest team, their NFC North rivals Detroit.
Detractors of the Vikings’ draft would say that the team gave up too much in order to get McCarthy and Turner, but the data paints a different picture. That picture becomes even better when you consider the amount of salary cap space the Vikings are projected to have next season and the compensatory picks they could receive for the free agents they lost in 2024.
