The Vikings’ 1st-Round Selection Earns Some More Doubt

The Vikings’ 1st-Round selection — DT Caleb Banks — is facing some reasonably intense scrutiny. Why?

Well, a few reasons.

For starters, he went in the opening round, meaning he is facing high expectations just by nature of being chosen high. Par for the course.

Do note, though, he was ranked a lot lower than No. 18 by a lot of analysts, meaning many felt like the Vikings reached for the talented Florida defender. Furthermore, there was a widespread expectation that Minnesota would opt for safety Dillon Thieneman, the athletic Duck who was still available. Instead, fill-in GM Rob Brzezinski opted to go bold, creating instant buzz about the major swing.

The Vikings’ 1st-Round Selection Facing Some Doubt

On The Athletic, Nick Baumgardner ventures into a league-wide analysis of the preseason effort of the recent 1st-Round picks.

Check out some of his opening preamble: “It’s just about time to start finding out which teams struck gold and which might’ve whiffed in the 2026 NFL Draft.” Some more on the approach: “Let’s look at how this year’s first-rounders performed in the preseason. Who were the winners, and who needs more time?”

Getting into the meat of the article means beginning with a “Preseason Winners” section. Thieneman, the expected Vikings selection who went to the Bears, sees his named included.

The analysis from Baumgardner: “Ben Johnson this summer compared Thieneman to a robot, in the best way possible, saying Thieneman’s work ethic from the start of spring drills through the end of camp was high level. Thieneman will be a day-one starter, as expected.”

Finding Mr. Banks means moving through the “Ready to Start” section to get to the “We’ll See” section. Banks then gets some tepid praise alongside some reasons for concern.

“Banks was a considerable gamble at No. 18 on draft night and, so far, still looks like one,” Baumgardner writes. “He has admittedly been out of shape this preseason after rehabbing a foot injury and looked downright bad early in August, although he improved by the end of camp. He’s a tough customer and a relatively quick turnaround wouldn’t be a surprise, but it’s far from guaranteed.”

So far, there has been some reoccurring talking points surrounding the rookie lineman. His pad level is too high and he’s still getting back into game shape. He is raw and needs to prove he isn’t injury prone. Being able to refute these critiques can only come with time.

Per PFF, Banks had a very poor preseason effort, offering a 36.7 grade across his 68 snaps in three games. Seeing that sort of performance drag into the season means being a player who doesn’t demand playing time.

At 18th overall, acquiring Banks was pricey. Quite possibly, he’ll end up being a bust; it’s not hard to connect the dots on how that possibility could calcify into reality. However, he boasts immense potential, meaning the Vikings’ 1st-Round selection could reasonably become a weekly terror who gives blockers headaches for 60 minutes.

Caleb Banks, 23, stands at 6’6″ and weighs roughly 325 pounds. Since watching him at training camp and in the preseason, my opinion has been that he’ll be as good as he wants to be. Neither talent nor potential are his issue. Both of Brian Flores and Ryan Nielsen are good coaches, so the kid has some great football minds in his corner.

Expect him to be a backup in Week 1. He’ll need to earn his portion of snaps from that Packers game onwards.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.