Minnesota Vikings select Jakobe Thomas in 3rd round of 2026 NFL Draft

The Minnesota Vikings have selected Miami defensive back Jakobe Thomas with the No. 98 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Thomas was taken with a third-round selection.

Thomas initially began his career at Middle Tennessee State. He spent three years there before transferring to Tennessee. Then he transferred to Miami for the final year of his college career.

Jakobe Thomas had a standout season with the Hurricanes, proving to be a force blitzing the quarterback from his safety position. He finished the season with 76 tackles, 4.0 tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, five interceptions, six pass breakups and 11 passes defended.

He was everywhere. And that kind of versatility earned him a look in the NFL Draft.

In total, across five years in college, Jakobe Thomas logged 206 tackles, 11.0 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, nine interceptions, 16 pass breakups and 25 passes defended. He scored two defensive touchdowns.

Prior to enrolling at MTSU, Jakobe Thomas was ranked as a three-star prospect by 247Sports and a two-star prospect by ESPN. He did not have a Rivals Industry Ranking, a lightly recruited prospect overall.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Jakobe Thomas

Thomas doesn’t necessarily have a single standout quality as a safety, but he does a lot of things relatively well. He’s very active in run support, even if he occasionally takes bad angles or misses tackles.

Jakobe Thomas has proven capable of being opportunistic, as evidenced by having two seasons with at least five takeaways. Can that turn into the norm at the next level.

The experts seem a bit split. Here’s what the NFL Network’s Lance Zierlein had to say in evaluating Thomas as a prospect ahead of the draft:

“A productive, fifth-year safety prospect, Thomas is wired to play forward and race into the action wherever it is present. He overflows pursuit and has too many missed or broken tackles on his stat sheet, but his impact against the run is a net positive.

“He has good ball production but is fairly average in coverage. He can be way too quick to overlap or bite on bait, which allows receivers to get behind him from single-high and split-safety alignments. Thomas has the potential to develop into a starter as a likely middle-round pick.”