Chicago Bears: Grading NFC North 2021 first-round picks
Christian Darrisaw. 77. player. 60. . OL. Minnesota Vikings
The Chicago Bears were surprisingly better than the Minnesota Vikings in 2020.
The Minnesota Vikings are one of the hardest teams in the National Football League to read. They will be elite for a year, bad for the next, and then elite again to follow that. Kirk Cousins is their quarterback who is nothing special but their defense is more than capable of being very good at times. In the 2021 NFL Draft, they needed to make a good selection in the first round and they did.
The Vikings originally had the 14th pick of the first round. They moved down after giving up the pick to the New York Jets. They ended up selecting with the 23rd pick and they got Christian Darrisaw from Virginia Tech. He is an offensive lineman that they are hoping can provide steady protection for whoever is under center there for the next decade or more.
The Vikings lost Riley Reiff in the offseason and tackle all of the sudden became a big need. They will use Darrisaw in that role going forward, as long as he shows he is worthy in training camp and beyond. Because it settled a sudden need, it can be viewed as a very nice pick for them. After what the Lions did in the first round, it is interesting to see them both add offensive lineman of this caliber.