At the end of the 3rd Round of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Vikings opted for Caleb Tiernan out of Northwestern. The towering offensive tackle boasts excellent feet and was projected to go higher, suggesting Minnesota did well getting him at No. 97.
The Vikings evidently have some work to do when it comes to nailing down his precise position.
The criticism against Tiernan was that he had short arms. Sounds a touch silly, but the detail matters for an offensive tackle. Winning in the trenches is often a battle involving hands and feet. Mr. Tiernan moves well but are his arms long enough to get his paws onto the long-and-strong edge rushers flying off the line of scrimmage? That uncertainty lingers into training camp.
Admittedly, there’s some silliness in putting too much emphasis on the team website’s position list. The coaching staff, not the employee who adjusts the website, gets the final call on a player’s position. Still, though, the general “OL” tag is notable enough for Mr. Tiernan.
Check out where the nine-person draft class gets listed: Basically every player gets a specific position. The lone exceptions exist in the trenches. All of Banks, Orange, and Tiernan get general descriptors; Gerhardt stands out as the lonely lineman to get shoved into a specific spot.
So, is this just an instance of the large lads mostly being general? Possibly, but that doesn’t seem overly persuasive.
When it comes to the defensive line, every player is listed with a general “DL” descriptor. That’s true of Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake Rodriguez, and everybody else who is getting work alongside Ryan Nielsen.
The offensive line, in contrast, sees things get much more specific. Three centers are listed: Blake Brandel, Michael Jurgens, and Gerhardt. Four offensive tackles get listed: Christian Darrisaw, Brian O’Neill, Ryan Van Demark, and Walter Rouse. And then there are a pile of guards.
Lingering alongside those players are the riddles that need to be solved. There are a trio of UDFA rookies with the “OL” tag: Tristan Leigh, Delby Lemieux, and Tomas Rimac. Standing alongside those unheralded rookies who are hustling to get onto the roster is Caleb Tiernan. He, too, is a young fella but arrives in the Twin Cities with much more optimism.
As of the middle of July, much is written in pencil. Players can still get shuffled around (think Golday being a LB who may get worked into OLB). Even the so-called certainty isn’t exactly that. Football is a dynamic, not static, sport.
What’s notable for Tiernan is that he entered the NFL with uncertainty and still has that uncertainty a couple of months into his career.
Even Banks and Orange have more clarity since public discussions from the coaching staff have involved comments on the expected plan. Banks, for instance, is being viewed as a jumbo defensive end, a 3T/5T who can use his unique blend of hulking size and smooth movement to generate matchup problems.
Caleb Tiernan is built like an offensive tackle as somebody who comes in at 6’7″ and 323 pounds (think Brian O’Neill but beefier). There aren’t too many guards who are so tall. Can he get low enough on the inside so as to not lose the leverage battle against the NFL’s powerful DTs? Or, perhaps, is the decision to stick at offensive tackle as he looks to prove capable of swatting away edge rushers? Goodness, the answer could even be both as Tiernan looks to mimic Brandel’s tremendous versatility.
Vikings rookies get to training camp on Sunday, July 26th. Slowly, Caleb Tiernan will look to show where he can help the Vikings in 2026 and beyond.
Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.
Vikings Evidently Need More Time with Caleb Tiernan
