Voluminous and nature-oriented, the 2019 Vikings project might have been different from anything they had gathered in the 13 years that Rick Spielman had total or shared control of the list.

For the first time since 1965, the Vikings used their top four picks on offensive players. They did not pick a defenseman until the fifth round, when they ranked USC linebacker Cameron Smith to 162nd. After passing the first or second round on a defensive line in three of the last four events, they waited until the sixth round to pick one this year, winning Marcus Epps, who was the Wyoming safety player, with the 191st choice.

Their 12-player draft class – which included nine caps on Saturday and four in the seventh round – is the largest of the Vikings since the NFL adopted its current seven-round format in 1994. The last time the Vikings formed as many players in The year was 1991, when the NFL project was still 12 rounds.

The 2019 class will ultimately be judged by the objective it has apparently set: to help the Vikings develop an offensive identity around their $ 84 million quarterback. .

The Vikings continued the initiative on the third day of the repechage that they had started the first day. They took Dru Samia, Oklahoma goaltender, in the fourth round, and Elon attacked Olisaemeka Udoh in the sixth on Saturday after choosing Garrett Bradbury Center in North Carolina. round. They have recruited three offensive linemen for the second time since Mike Zimmer became head coach in 2014.

In total, they used seven of their 12 choices among offensive players, adding Oregon receiver Dillon Mitchell and Colorado State grandfather Olabisi Johnson to the seventh round Saturday after picking the tight half Bradbury, Alabama Irv Smith and running back Alexander Mattison in the project. first two days. The Vikings have reworked their offensive schedule this season off around an approach that should be familiar to Kirk Cousins ​​since his stint in Washington, and their preliminary strategy – of the three men of the line that they took to weapons that they added – seemed focused on providing their quarterly resources.

"We have to be better in attack. That's where we needed help, "Spielman said Saturday night. "Our defense, we have, I think every starting return [other than Sheldon Richardson] and signed Shamar [Stephen] return [from Seattle after Richardson left]. We kept Anthony Barr, so we do not have a lot of defense needs in the starting position. The attack was a kind of point of importance. We would never let a defensive guy go so high on our board, and one of those guys would have fallen. We are never going to take the best player. But as we progressed through the repechage, I thought it was very good for us among the players we found offensive.

The Vikings, who started the repechage with eight choices, concluded the game with 12 selections. They escaped four times Friday before winning six places Saturday to select the 114th place of Samia. They exchanged once again in the fifth round, ending the trade with a total of six exchanges that yielded four more choices.

Spielman said Cameron Smith could play one of the Vikings' three linebackers and highlighted the importance of adding cornerback Kris Boyd in the seventh round, who joins the team with his teammate at Holton Hill College. suspended four games, and Mike Hughes left a torn ACL.

But after the Vikings' offensive in the second half led to the overthrow of offensive coordinator John DeFilippo and the team missing the playoffs, a pivotal year for the organization depends on the effectiveness of the 19th-ranked offensive. Vikings in 2019.

At Mattison, they added a half-offensive that, he hopes, could compensate for Latavius ​​Murray's loss as an indoor runner. In Smith, they think they have the kind of tight sport that they have not managed to add for several years (following an unsuccessful attempt to sign Jared Cook as an independent player and blocked negotiations with the Rams for Tyler Higbee a year ago.)

Bradbury could start at center or guard, Samia could compete to save time on guard and 6-6 Udoh will likely have time to develop as a tackle of the future. And the two new wide receivers of the Vikings were brought in to add options to a position that seemed thin behind Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs.

"There's always an opportunity to land this job # 3, whether I'm a rookie or it's one of the other guys," Johnson said. "I know you have [Laquon] Treadwell and guys like that, but it'll be fun to compete. That's what it takes to be an athlete. That's what I like in the game, it's that there is always competition. "

A defense with Pro Bowl players and a Cousins, Thielen, Diggs and Dalvin Cook offensive means the Vikings are about to win now and their offensive review may have to take root quickly.

It is too early to tell if the temporary capital they have devoted to their offense will yield immediate results in 2019. But the considerable efforts made by the Vikings this weekend suggest that they know what is at stake.

"I think the guys we selected were very specific to what we're going to do schematically," Spielman said. "That's what we want to do, it's making sure we match the player characteristics to the pattern we're going to run."