Vikings Sign First-Rounder Caleb Banks
The Vikings announced deals with eight of their draft picks, including first-round defensive tackle Caleb Banks. As the 18th overall selection, Banks signed a fully guaranteed contract worth around $21.28MM over four years.
Former Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman was a popular pick for the Vikings in mock drafts, but they instead elected to address their defensive line in Round 1. The Vikings released 2025 starters Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in early March, leaving them in need of help up front. Cognizant of that, they drafted both Banks and third-round defensive tackle Domonique Orange, formerly with Iowa State. The Vikings also signed Orange, aka “Big Citrus,” on Friday.
Banks opened his college career in 2021 at Louisville, but he got into a mere seven games and made one tackle in two years with the Cardinals. The 6-foot-6, 327-pounder then transferred to Florida, where he logged 19 tackles and a sack over 12 games in 2023. Banks’ numbers jumped during another dozen-game season the next year. He tallied 21 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 4.5 sacks and two forced fumbles, but left foot problems prevented Banks from building on that production in 2025. He played in just three games and made six tackles in his last year in school.
Adding to Banks’ health issues, he fractured the fourth metatarsal in the same foot the night before on-field Combine testing in February. Although Banks underwent surgery in mid-March, he gutted out the injury at the Combine and finished second among D-tackles in the broad jump and tied for sixth in the vertical jump. There was still some pre-draft concern over his foot, especially considering Banks is not expected to return to the field until June, but it did not scare off the Vikings.
Along with Banks and Orange, the Vikings inked six other selections on Friday. Here is the list:
- Round 3, No. 97: Caleb Tiernan (T, Northwestern)
- Round 3, No. 98: Jakobe Thomas (S, Miami)
- Round 5, No. 159: Max Bredeson (FB, Michigan)
- Round 5, No. 163: Charles Demmings (CB, Stephen F. Austin)
- Round 6, No. 198: Demond Claiborne (RB, Wake Forest)
- Round 7, No. 235: Gavin Gerhardt (C, Cincinnati)
Former Cincinnati linebacker Jake Golday, the Vikings’ second-rounder, is now the only unsigned member of their nine-player class.