After waiting a few hours on Friday night to make their next pick in the 2025 NFL draft, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah decided the Vikings could wait a little bit longer.

Maryland wide receiver Tai Felton runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

In a small trade shortly before they were set to be on the clock, the Vikings flipped No. 97 (third round) and No. 187 (sixth round) to the Houston Texans in exchange for No. 102 (third round) and No. 142 (fifth round). The move helped upgrade some draft positioning, even if it didn’t necessarily add more draft capital.

When the Vikings finally got their turn, they turned in their card quickly and selected Maryland receiver Tai Felton at No. 102. There’s a lot to like about the selection as Felton, 22, should be able to contribute for the Vikings as soon as he steps on the field.

“Everybody was really excited about him,” senior vice president of player personnel Ryan Grigson said. “There’s a lot that this player can do and he has the mindset to come in and do whatever it takes to get on the field.”

Not only does he have the requisite size to play the position with his 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame, Felton also the speed to take the top off the defense, evidenced by him running the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds.

Asked to describe his game, Felton pointed to his speed, as well as his ability to make plays when the ball is in his hands.

“I’m going to make defenders miss,” Felton said. “My intentions are always to go score.”

Though he has predominantly played outside throughout his career, Felton has shown the ability to work inside as he’s risen up the ranks. He will need to get stronger to have success at the next level.

The stats from last season speak for themselves as Felton led Maryland with 96 receptions for 1,124 yards and nine touchdowns.

It’s not hard to imagine Felton fitting in nicely in a room that features Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Jalen Nailor, among others. He should also be able to help out in various spots on special teams.

It will be interesting to see how the Vikings approach the rest of the draft. They could simply stick and pick at No. 139 and No. 142. They could also try to add more picks by trading back once again.

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Pablo López returned on Friday night, and so, too, did the Twins’ offense.

Shut out in action during their rain-shortened loss a day earlier, the Twins erupted for a season-high 11 runs in support of López in their 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night at Target Field.

Leadoff hitter Edouard Julien started the Twins’ offense off on the right foot, drawing a walk to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Two more baserunners reached — Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch in the wrist area and later departed the game and Trevor Larnach walked — before Carlos Correa’s sacrifice fly brought Julien home and gave the Twins their first lead of the game.

It was one of four walks on the day for Julien, who scored three runs. As a team, the Twins took advantage of their free baserunners with five batters who walked — plus one who was hit by a pitch — coming around to score.

There were plenty of hits to speak of, too. Larnach, Byron Buxton and Mickey Gasper collected two apiece. For Gasper, his fourth-inning single was the first RBI of his career and came as part of a six-run inning for the Twins.

Julien’s bases-loaded walk forced in a run in the fourth and Buxton’s sacrifice fly brought home another before Gasper’s hit. Larnach then broke open the game with a three-run home run, his third in his past four games. Buxton also hit a home run in the win, along with a triple.

All the run support was more than enough for López, who was pitching in his first game since April 8, when he strained his right hamstring.

López (2-1) gave up two runs in his five-inning outing, including one in the second that tied the game up at the time. He allowed a second run in his last inning of work on an RBI single from Angels star Mike Trout. But otherwise, it was a strong return for the Twins’ top starter.

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The Houston Texans wanted Aireontae Ersery bad enough on Friday night that they traded up to get the Gophers’ mammoth left tackle.

The Texans gave the Raiders their 58th and 99th picks in exchange for Las Vegas’ 48th, and in that early second-round slot, Houston selected Ersery, the Big Ten offensive lineman of the year.

The 6-foot-6 and 330-pound all-Big Ten tackle extended the Gophers’ streak of having a player picked in the opening two rounds to six straight drafts.

Safety Antoine Winfield started the streak by going to the Buccaneers in 2020. He was followed by receiver Rashod Bateman (2021, Ravens), defensive end Boye Mafe (2022, Seahawks), center John Michael Schmitz (2023, Giants) and safety Tyler Nubin (2024, Giants).

The Gophers haven’t had that long of a string of high-end picks since World War II, 1940-45.

Ersery was incredibly durable, starting the final 38 games of his collegiate career before opting out of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in January. In 2024, he allowed only one sack across 398 pass-blocking snaps. He gave up two sacks in 381 reps in 2023 and two sacks in 325 in 2022.

NFL Network commentator Daniel Jeremiah said Ersery was “one of the more polarizing players” in this year’s draft. “Some people thought could go at the bottom of the first round,” the draft analyst said. “Other teams had third- and fourth-round grades on him.”

Ersery displayed athleticism, including a 5.01-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine, but Jeremiah said there were concerns about his ability to bend while dealing with twitchy edge rushers.

“This is a massive human being here; outstanding size,” Jeremiah said on TV. “And he’s got an anchor. You want to try to rush through his chest, you are going to have problems. The issues show up when he goes against the more-athletic guys who can redirect him and get him going one way and have to turn back the other way.”

But Ersery more than held his own in his stiffest test of the season, against Penn State edge rusher, Abdul Carter, who went No. 3 overall to the Giants on Thursday. Ersery won the overwhelming majority of the one-on-one reps against Carter in their Big Ten matchup in Minneapolis in November.

Ersery and Schmitz are very different linemen, but Gophers offensive line coach Brian Callahan sees similarities in the meteoric development of each player.

Both were three-star recruits receiving few — if any — scholarship offers from Power Five conference schools. Schmitz, who went 57th overall two years ago, was going to Western Michigan before he followed head coach P.J. Fleck to Dinkytown.

Coming out of Kansas City, Mo., Ersery only had other major offers from Kansas and Kansas State.

“We’re a blue-collar mentality in terms of what we do here, particularly on the O-line,” Callahan told the Pioneer Press last week. “I take a lot of pride in both of those guys. … I think the work ethic piece, they are different body types, different players, but the how, as we call it, our effort, is always going to be something that sticks out for them.”

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It was midway through Donovan Jackson‘s senior season at Ohio State when head coach Ryan Day approached him about potentially switching positions.

There was a massive hole to fill on the offensive line following a pair of injuries, and while Jackson was already a stalwart at guard, Day believed bumping him outside to tackle gave Ohio State the best chance to keep chasing a national championship.

“I was kind of like, ‘You serious?’” Jackson said. “Because at that point, I’d only played guard.”

As he recalled the conversation less than 24 hours after getting selected by the Vikings in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, Jackson noted that he legitimately thought Day was messing with him at first.

“He didn’t smile,” Jackson said. “That’s kind of when I figured, ‘Oh wow. He’s actually serious.’”

The decision was left up to Jackson. Nobody at Ohio State was going to force him to switch positions — not if he didn’t want to do it.

“I wrestled with it,” Jackson said. “Then I came in the next day like, ‘Alright. Let’s do this.’”

Never mind that there was some risk involved, as he could’ve potentially hurt his draft stock if he struggled with switching positions.

“It doesn’t matter what my goals are,” Jackson said. “As long as the team wins and my goals are set aside.”

The only thing that mattered to Jackson in that moment was helping Ohio State win a national championship.

“I wanted to win more than anything else,” Jackson said. “I had a mindset of, ‘If I go out there and play the way I know I can play, I’ll give my team a better chance of winning.’ That was what motivated me. I wanted to do whatever I could for the team.”

The selflessness that Jackson displayed is partially what won over the Vikings. Though they loved the skill set he possessed within his 6-foot-4, 315-pound frame. They also saw him as a perfect fit for their culture.

“You’re talking about everything on the line for his personal future, and what he did for his team resulted in a national championship,” general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said. “That is something that he should be proud of as a player.”

The first game that Jackson started at tackle put him up against Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter. It was sink or swim for Jackson, and he held his own against a dominant force who ended up getting selected by the the New York Giants in the first round on Thursday.

“Just the willingness to jump over to that spot and the very next week he’s blocking the No. 3 pick in the draft and competing is his tail off,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “He didn’t necessarily need to do that when he was going to be drafted and evaluated the way he was.”

What if he’s ever asked to switch positions with the Vikings at the next level?

“I’ll play whatever position that is required of me,” Jackson said. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win.”

No surprise there.

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