EAGAN, Minn. — The smiling didn't end after Caleb Banks left the room.
Minnesota's No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft walked out with his entourage of family just minutes prior, and then Vikings Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores walked in with a Banks' sized smile covering his face.
"When you see a guy with this type of, kind of rare size, rare athleticism, you take a real hard look at him," Flores told Twin Cities reporters before rattling off the types of exposure coaches and scouts had with Banks during the pre-draft process. "I think he's got very high upside and excited to have him join our team, our defense, our locker room. And then just meeting him, he's a great kid and I think he embodies a lot of the things that we're looking for in a Viking. He's smart. Football's important to him; he wants to be a great teammate, so we felt very comfortable the whole way and really excited that we got him.
"Obviously, he's got the foot [injury] and just my conversations with him already have been, 'Let's not worry about when we're going to be back or starting or anything all the way down the road," Flores continued, referencing Banks surgery on March 9. " 'Let's take this one day at a time. Let's string good days together and let's see what it looks like at the end.' And so I know there's a lot of 'Where do you see him playing?' And, 'When's he going to be back?' And my answer's really going to be the same for him."
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With all that in mind, "There aren't very many guys who are 6-foot-6, 330 pounds, walking around playing d-line with this type of athleticism," Flores said very matter-of-factly of the 23-year-old Detroit native who played at Louisville before transferring to Florida.
Banks flew to the Twin Cities on Friday and loaded into a van with his mom Mary, brothers Trevon and Jalen, and girlfriend Monique on his way to Vikings headquarters in Eagan. They arrived around noon on a totally agreeable 60-degree day, and then made their rounds before an introductory press conference.
Showing his outgoing personality right away, Banks asked a question before answering one.
"How are you guys doing?" he said politely and dressed to the nines in a gray suit with a white button down and black tie that hugged his broad shoulders snuggly, with a Vikings ball cap turned up and away from his forehead.
"First, I would just like to say, I just want to thank God for putting me in this position today, being in front of you guys, in front of Coach K.O. and everybody on the staff," Banks said. "I appreciate you guys — the Wilf Family, Rob [Brzezinski]. I appreciate the opportunity. So, yeah, I just want to say thank you."
Banks said he never fully bought into the idea he could become an NFL first-round pick "because you never know what could happen," but he prayed for this moment and worked hard to make it possible.
In an alternate reality, Banks might have gone pro in another sport: basketball. At 6-foot-6 and 327 pounds now, it's easy to imagine him carving out space in the paint. He grew up on the hardwood — he also used to skateboard, which is a wild visualization and probably is a story for another day — and wanted to be like his brothers — "them boys hoop," he said, "that's what they did" — but he realized "I can't keep fouling out every game" and so Banks changed lanes to a sport suited for his competitiveness.
"It don't matter what it is, you could play rock, paper, scissors right now — I'm going to win," he quipped.
That want-to coupled with undeniably rare measurements are fixtures of Banks' potential. His passion and power are two ginormous reasons why Minnesota selected him 18th overall. In summary, the franchise is banking on him hitting his ceiling, which may be as high as anyone picked this year, under the tutelage of Flores, Defensive Running Game Coordinator Ryan Nielsen and Assistant D-line Coach Pat Hill.
Hill worked extensively with Banks as the American Team DL coach at the Senior Bowl, and Banks recalled that Nielsen was the lone NFL DL coach who sat down with him in Gainesville after his pro day.
"That meant a lot to me," Banks said, adding it proved, "They had a lot of interest in me, and they cared for me and they know I can be great someday. It was kind of like, 'Oh yeah, I know where I want to be.' "
As far as playing for Flo', Banks is fired up about the opportunity.
"I know he got a motor to him, you know what I mean?" Banks said when he was asked about the heralded coordinator. "I could tell just how he walks; he ain't going to BS, he's going to get after you — he's going to get after me. He's going to make sure I'm giving everything that I've got. So, I can't wait."
The interest is mutual as Flo' and Minnesota's personnel department and coaching staff dove into the weeds to learn what makes Banks tick, how he handles constructive criticism, his love for the game, etc.
"We felt good about and feel good about Caleb, the type of person he is," Flores shared. "And it's not necessarily just our interactions with him — this vetting process, it's a deep one. We're going back and talking to coaches from all the way back to Louisville and you can kind of see the growth of a person just when he was 19 it was like this, when he was 20 it was like this, when he was 21 it was like this. … And I would say that's probably more important than — you can't fake that; it's already happened, good, bad or whatever it is. And so yeah, we felt really comfortable with him from that standpoint. And then my personal interaction with him has been good. And as you guys know, I'm not afraid to ask hard questions. So, 'Hey, what happened on this play, this play, this play? And he's honest, 'I've got to be better here. I've got to improve here. That was a good play, but I could have done this.' And I think when I spent the time with him and just felt his overall football acumen, football IQ, understanding of what he needs to do — [that all] kind of speaks to the type of person he is as well."
Former team linebacker and assistant coach Pete Bercich appeared Friday with "Voice of the Vikings" Paul Allen on KFAN's 9 to Noon and broke down his impression of Banks after studying some of his film.
Bercich admittedly didn't do a deep dive into Banks yet but watched enough to glean some big takeaways.
"[The Gators] moved him all over the place," Bercich said. "For a guy that big, they didn't stand him up much, but he was everywhere and he looked comfortable and looked good doing it. And (once) he gets his technique down, learns to keep his pads a little bit lower, the potential is mind boggling with this kid.
"I mean, the NFL, I don't know if we've seen anything like him, physically, in quite a long time," Bercich added. "So again, [if] not for that one question mark, this conversation would be completely different. And Rob Brzezinski was exactly right. If not for the foot, there's no chance — zero chance — the Minnesota Vikings would [be able to get him at that spot]. I mean, he'd be sitting in Arizona right now."
Instead, the board shook out to Minnesota's delight. Arizona discarded positional value and drafted Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love higher than any running back since Saquon Barkley was picked second in 2018; and the "Top 10 caliber" Banks landed in the Vikings lap just past the midpoint of the first round.
"All I know is the kid only played [three] games last year and when he did, he showed up. I mean, think about that," Bercich remarked. "He missed 10 games and then comes [back] for the last two and just balls out. (Then) he does unbelievably well at the Senior Bowl. … There aren't a lot of guys out there that can miss 10 weeks of a season, finally get the thumbs up — and then a foot injury no less; it's not like a shoulder or whatever where you can run and stay in shape. This is a foot injury and with foot injuries most of the time they're booted up or you've got to stay off 'em completely. Well, this guy comes back from that and then lights it up off the street … lights it up for two weeks, goes to [the] Senior Bowl, lights it up. So, yeah, the injury is really the only question. And again, we [aren't privy to all the details]."
Banks shared that at Louisville he weighed around 255 pounds after he became a little "hefty" in 2020-21 during the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time he transferred and then finished at Florida, he was north of 300. Banks mentioned Thursday night on his post-draft call that he wants to trim down a smidge, but it's hard to tell how much he's actually carrying due to his monstrous wingspan and athletic frame. He stated the utmost confidence in his recovery from a fourth metatarsal bone break in his foot.
"It's not like a ligament or something crazy to where it's really detrimental," he shared.
Banks' availability will be all-important, which is the case for every player, but that's where the similarities between Banks and other 2026 defensive line prospects comes to a full stop.
Just peep his Relative Athletic Score, which stacks a player's measurements on a 0-10 scale compared to their peers. Banks uniquely checks size, speed and explosiveness boxes; his 9.83 RAS is 39th among 2,278 interior defensive linemen tracked from 1987 to 2026. Or just look at his spider chart on MockDraftable — 98th percentile height, 98th percentile wingspan, 94th percentile hand size, 94th percentile arm length, 92nd percentile broad jump, 89th percentile weight, 79th percentile vertical jump (at 327 pounds!), 60th percentile 40-yard dash (327 pounds!!) — it's a green web shooting to the edges of extraordinary in every direction.
The point is Minnesota's top pick is built differently as he joins a league full of athletic marvels.
"Honestly, it's just natural, raw talent I feel like. It's just kind of something that I have, an attribute that I have," Banks said as to how he can move so well at such a size. "You can't really, I don't want to say you can't teach it, but that's just something that I could just do. I don't really think, 'OK, I'm going to do this move and it's going to be slow.' It's just natural. It's natural to me — comes to me like second nature."
View photos of DT Caleb Banks who was selected No. 18 overall in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
Bercich noted there's always a risk-reward assessment in bringing players aboard, but there are scarier issues than a foot injury. Consistently flawed character, for instance, is calculated and tougher to rein in.
"There's ifs to anybody you draft, but at least the unknowns here are a little bit more known. It's a physical thing. You know exactly what that is. It's not like it's an unpredictable bit where you don't know what this kid's going to do on a Saturday night when he gets here," Bercich said. "You keep this guy healthy and he's going to make an impact immediately. And at the same time, you've got a guy in Flores that knows how to use [Banks' skills], right? Flores knows how to use these uniquely talented players."
Maybe the most exciting aspect of the pick is exactly that. Few coaches are ingenious as Flores.
"Caleb Banks' skill set, it doesn't matter if you run a gap control, downhill, 4-3 style defense, maybe like Tampa does, or you're running a 3-4 like we do," said Bercich, "He transcends, in that regard, scheme fit."
Take Flores' word for it, too, as far as Banks' measurables reach.
"Size, speed and athleticism, you really can't teach. It's really God-given," he said.
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