Sometimes, a team will have a draft class that defines how that franchise will operate for the next decade or more.

In 1974, the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted four Hall of Famers in Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, and Mike Webster. The four were part of what is widely considered the best draft class in history and helped power the team to four Super Bowls with 13 All-Pro appearances between those players.

In 1996, the Baltimore Ravens drafted Ray Lewis and Johnathan Ogden. The class was less dramatically impactful than the Steelers’ draft, but it still helped the team to two Super Bowls in 2000 and 2012 and Lewis headlined one of the greatest stretches of defensive dominance the game has ever seen.

And in 2010, the Seattle Seahawks set the table for the Legion of Boom defense with Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, as well as adding Golden Tate. The team would reach two Super Bowls with those players on the team, winning one in dominant fashion over Peyton Manning’s record-setting offense, They would have won another if not for a poorly-timed interception in the end zone.

With that being said, a draft can also sink a team into despair if the class is filled with misses. Teams like the Raiders and Browns, who always seem to be on the wrong end of the draft, desperately sign players in free agency to fill holes left by the poor draft, only to overpay aging veterans on the decline. Misses like JaMarcus Russell, Trent Richardson, Henry Ruggs III and Johnny Manziel set franchises back for years.

This year’s Vikings draft class feels like it may fall into one of these two categories. The Vikings got who they profess to be their franchise quarterback in J.J. McCarthy, as well as a player many had as the top defender in the draft in Dallas Turner. While the team did add a handful more players on Day 3, history will almost certainly determine if this draft worked out for the Vikings on the basis of their first two selections.

I, for one, am optimistic about the chance this draft turns out to be an all-time great one for the purple and gold.

I believe that McCarthy will turn out to be a franchise quarterback for a Vikings offense that is loaded with talent. McCarthy brings mobility and improvisational skills to the team that were desperately lacking with Kirk Cousins on the team, but still operates well within the structure of an offense that Kevin O’Connell will have a full season to tailor to McCarthy’s strengths.

The first Vikings quarterback ever that I will be older than, McCarthy has plenty of room to grow from an already pro-ready understanding of concepts and throwing mechanics. His biggest weakness is putting touch on sideline deep balls, but with the help of perimeter threats like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, McCarthy can learn to trust his receivers on those throws while always having options like T.J. Hockenson and Aaron Jones available until he does develop that throw.

The situation that McCarthy was drafted into is my biggest reason for optimism regarding his development. McCarthy will have an offensive-minded head coach to put him in the best situations, a well-regarded quarterback guru in Josh McCown as his quarterbacks coach, two Pro Bowl offensive tackles in Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neil, and a bevy of weapons to throw to as I mentioned earlier. It’s hard to imagine a better situation for a top 10 draft pick to come into for his rookie year.

Many of the quarterback busts of the past 10 years were drafted to bad teams and terrible situations. The list of quarterback failures in the top 10 is extensive — Blake Bortles, Marcus Mariota, Mitchell Trubisky, Sam Darnold (ironically), Josh Rosen, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Daniel Jones — yet very few can say they were drafted to even mediocre situations.

Perhaps the only two that found themselves on competing teams were Bortles and Lance. Bortles went to a AFC championship game in 2017, but the strength of that Jacksonville Jaguars team was always the defense and Bortles was playing with weapons like Allen Hurns and Marquise Lee as his top guys. Lance, meanwhile, was plagued by injuries early in his career and was surpassed by the sensation of Brock Purdy before being traded to the Cowboys for a fourth-round pick.

McCarthy will have the luxury of both a talented offense and being able to wait behind Darnold until he is ready. The list of first round quarterbacks in a similar situation over the past 10 years is impressive — Patrick Mahomes, DeShaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, Tua Tagovailoa, Jordan Love. The only two real busts on the list are the aforementioned Lance and Kenny Pickett, who was drafted 10 spots later than McCarthy and was part of what is recognized as one of the weakest quarterback classes in the century. The situation McCarthy finds himself is much more in line with the second list than the first, and he should be given all the time in the world to find his footing in the NFL.

Dallas Turner, on the other hand, seems like both the safer and less impactful draft choice for the franchise. I have friends from Washington that were very excited when the Seahawks traded up in the draft, only to be very disappointed when they failed to select Turner. Turner wins with speed and leverage, as he ran a 4.46 forty time and posted a 9.49 raw athletic score, a number in the top 94.8% of all defensive ends since 1987. His athletic numbers are also eerily similar to Cowboys star edge player Michael Parsons and reflect his high upside as a pass rusher.

Turner also showed his versatility while playing at Alabama, rushing from all over the defense and even dropping back into coverage every so often, something that works perfectly into Brian Flores’ scheme. Turner uses his 6-2 frame and 34 3/8 inch arms in combination with great use of leverage to put blockers in bad positions and often outmaneuvers linemen with ease. His biggest weakness is his physical strength and mass, where he sometimes can get anchored against and can’t push through the strongest of linemen. He also needs to develop his pass rush move set a little, but for a mid first round pick, those are small blemishes on who is currently the favorite to win defensive rookie of the year.

The Vikings’ front office has put all their chips on the table hoping that these two prospects turn into difference makers for the team. They have done all they can to both get them on their team and to put them in the best situations to succeed in the NFL. Whether history will look back at this draft as a roaring success or as a disaster hinges on their transition to the next level.