One of the names that was constantly emerging for the Minnesota Vikings in mock drafts heading into the 2026 NFL Draft was former Oregon Ducks safety Dillon Thieneman. Minnesota does have the uncertainty surrounding Harrison Smith, so the expert’s reasoning made sense.
Nonetheless, when the time came at No. 18, the Vikings decided to pass on Thieneman and instead select defensive tackle Caleb Banks. Moreover, Minnesota will be seeing a lot of Thieneman, given that the Chicago Bears selected the player at No. 25.
Minnesota did draft a safety in Round 3 as they selected former Miami Hurricanes star, Jakobe Thomas. As a result, former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber was asked about whether Minnesota made the right decision to pass on Thieneman.
“I think that my thought on building any team is through the trenches,” Leber said on April 27 during an appearance on KFAN. “… I would much rather have I’ve always sort of pounded the table that you build your defense from the inside out. You have to have a rockstar defense up front.
“If you’re scouting a team, would you rather be intimidated by their defensive front or be intimidated by their secondary? I would much rather have an intimidating defensive front than an intimidating secondary… I want my front four and five guys to be mfers that scare everybody that you play because it just makes it easy to play defense on the back end better.”
Kevin O’Connell Shares True Thoughts on Caleb Banks Pick
Despite the injury worries, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter provided an update on the concern teams likely had about Banks’ foot.
“NFL teams received a letter this week stating that, after a CT scan on [on April 21], Banks is ‘on pace to be fully cleared for full football activities in early June’ as he recovers from a surgically repaired bone in his left foot,” Schefter wrote on X on April 23.
After selecting Banks on April 23, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke with the media and shared his thoughts on why Minnesota opted to go with the defensive tackle.
“Excited about adding a player of Caleb’s talent,” O’Connell told reporters. “Really felt like we were able to identify a player with the ceiling, you know, what we believe to be a top-10-caliber talent and difference-maker, potentially, you know, in a place where we really wanted to add some size and youth to that defensive line.”
Vikings Comfortable Selecting Caleb Banks Despite Concerns
Moreover, O’Connell shared the reason the team was also comfortable making the Banks selection despite the injury concerns that limited the player to three games last season for Florida.
“Between [Brian Flores] and Ryan Nielsen, and their excitement about the player, and the way we used the process from the combine formal to the 30 visit, to Ryan Nielsen spending some time with him down at the University of Florida, we felt that, combined with the fact that medically we feel strongly about where Caleb is not only at right now, after really getting that thing totally fixed up and having the type of medical team here, surgeon-wise and orthopedic surgeon-wise, we have some of the best in the world,” O’Connell added.
“A lot of people around the league come to some of our folks, specifically in regard to foot and ankle issues. And we spent a lengthy amount of time making sure we all felt really good about it so that Caleb can come here with the excitement that we have for him.”
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