There's no shortage of "rankings" this time of year.

From way-too-early 2026 Power Rankings to the crème de la crème of free agents and the top draft prospects to know and wish for your favorite team (the Vikings, no doubt) to select in the annual event, you can find whatever your heart desires. Our one piece of advice is to remember everything is fluid.

In other words, things change. And in the NFL, they can change quickly.

That's why we appreciate the meticulous work done by a handful of evaluators in the NFL Draft space. Bucky Brooks of NFL.com is one person who pours energy into ranking top prospects by position through his lens as a former player and scout. Brooks on Wednesday released Version 2.0 of his 2026 prospects.

He prefaced his positional rankings with the following:

In my second installment of this exercise, I'm taking a more granular approach, separating wide receivers from slot receivers, defensive ends from outside linebackers and cornerbacks from nickelbacks. The NFL is a league of increasingly specialized positions, so it makes sense to assess prospects with that in mind.

Let's dive into two positions that have been linked to the Vikings in a surplus of mock drafts: RB and S.

Brooks has a couple Notre Dame products leading the backfield options: Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price; the latter elevated a spot and unseated Minnesota native and Nebraska product Emmett Johnson, who is RB3 now. Washington's Jonah Coleman and Arkansas' Mike Washington, Jr., complete Brooks' list.

Touted as "the clear headliner," Brooks views Love as a Top 5 overall player in this class. His Fighting Irish teammate, meanwhile, is "an intriguing Day 2 possibility" due to his explosiveness as a runner/returner. Johnson is more unheralded, "but many scouts and coaches are smitten with his potential as a dynamic RB1," Brooks said. Coleman is 5-foot-8 and 220 pounds and impressed Brooks with his quicks and wiggle.

Washington was previously unranked by Brooks and "has enticing potential as a big back with explosive speed and quickness" despite his game production not aligning with his physical tools or potential, yet.

Flipping sides now, Brooks ranked the following safeties in his Top 5: Ohio State's Caleb Downs, Pittsburgh's Kyle Louis, Oregon's Dillon Thieneman, Toledo's Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and LSU's A.J. Haulcy. Their ordering stayed the same as Brooks' initial ranking, but it's peculiar nonetheless because …

Downs, Thieneman and McNeil-Warren have all regularly appeared in first-round mockups, and Louis is going through the pre-draft process as a linebacker but projects in the NFL as a hybrid box-area defender.

Brooks wrote the following about Louis, whose skills could make him coveted by defensive coordinators:

The 6-foot, 220-pounder plays with the violence and physicality needed to stop running backs in their tracks, while also displaying the range, awareness and anticipation to attack underneath/intermediate throws. As teams begin to narrow their focus to role-specific defenders with significant upside, Louis' reputation as a splash-play specialist [25.5 career TFLs, 10 sacks, six INTs] could move him up the charts.

You can read the rest of Brooks' updated rankings here.

ESPN lists 'issues' for contenders

Free agency's biggest tidal wave has settled, so it's a fine time to start reassessing where teams stand.

Bill Barnwell of ESPN on Wednesday examined how the rosters of the top contenders — the 20 teams who made the playoffs in 2024 or 2025 — are shaping up after the leaguewide heavy-spending period.

Firstly, Barnwell qualifies Minnesota as a contender, which is deserving regardless of their participation in the postseason two years ago because of the moves executed by Vikings decision-makers. Even if the club hasn't allocated too many resources to new players, they've addressed key needs by bringing in cornerback James Pierre, quarterback Kyler Murray and punter Johnny Hekker in addition to re-signing several players on last season's roster. Relatively quiet, perhaps, but objectively impressive, absolutely.

The second thing to note before diving into Barnwell's assessment of Minnesota is there are still many quality players available on the market — and ample time between now and August to make additions.

As for what's currently missing in Barnwell's mind, he thinks Minnesota's depth on the defensive line has taken a hit; veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave were released after they signed multiyear deals last spring to help alleviate cap constraints, and they subsequently signed with Cincinnati and Green Bay.

Barnwell pointed out the good news in the trenches is young interior players Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake Rodriguez, and outside linebacker Dallas Turner each "showed signs of being impact contributors a year ago." Redmond "was very good as a penetrating force," Barnwell stated, and Rodriguez looked to him "like he might be an effective nose tackle." Turner "took a step forward" and his first-round draft slot in 2024 and eight sacks in 2025 warrant him playing a larger role next season in Barnwell's perspective.

Obviously, the Vikings have received tremendous impacts from OLBs Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, and there is intrigue surrounding some other youngsters, like 2025 fifth-round pick Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. Barnwell, however, thinks the DL depth in Minnesota stands for some reinforcements.

Barnwell wrote the following about a possible solution:

The young guys are going to be the focal points in 2026, but the Vikings could still stand to add some veteran depth to rotate in and offer some reliability. This defense had plenty of players like that in 2024, but players such as Pat Jones II and Jihad Ward played well enough to earn deals elsewhere. There isn't a ton available on the edge, but the Vikings could stand to add a guy or two on the interior to bulk up against the run in veteran free agency. Several former Vikings are free agents, including Jonathan Bullard, [who played 15 games with the Saints in 2025]. Ward, who had five sacks and an impressive 22 [QB hits] for the Titans last season as a full-time starter, hasn't found much of a market in free agency.

Check out what Barnwell had to say regarding the league's other 19 "contenders" right here.

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