The Vikings continued their trend of drafting third day tight ends, taking Central Michigan’s Tyler Conklin with the 157th pick, flipping fifth-round picks and trading a seventh-rounder to the Jets to move up 10 spots.
This was the fourth straight year the Vikings have selected a tight end in the fifth or sixth round (Bucky Hodges in 2017, David Morgan II in 2016 and MyCole Pruitt in 2015).
From our Zone Coverage player profile:
A converted Division II basketball player, Tyler Conklin made a name for himself under at Central Michigan in 2016, when he caught 42 passes for 560 yards and six touchdowns. His senior season saw a dip in production since Conklin had to battle back from a Jones fracture in his foot, but he was still invited to the Senior Bowl.
Conklin is perhaps a hair undersized at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds and doesn’t have tremendous speed to make up for it. But his good hands should make him a viable red-zone threat at the next level.
Conklin joins Kyle Rudolph, Morgan and Blake Bell in the tight end room. His presence may threaten Bell’s roster spot, as Bell is entering a contract year and played just 13 percent of snaps last season.
Stay tuned for further analysis of the Vikings’ third-day picks.
