Vikings get Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson in NFL draft with 24th pick

The Minnesota Vikings were never more determined to fix their blocking problems than were this spring, after a 14-win season was ultimately torpedoed by too much interior pressure.

Donovan Jackson became the final piece of the upgrade.

The Vikings made the Ohio State guard the 24th selection in the NFL draft on Thursday night, completing an offseason overhaul of the interior of their offensive line after ignoring an opportunity to trade down and add to their small number of picks.

The 6-foot-4, 315-pound Jackson, who was the third guard taken behind Alabama's Tyler Booker at No. 12 and North Dakota State's Gray Zabel at No. 18, was a second-team Associated Press All-American for the national champion Buckeyes.

“He’s got size. He’s got length. He’s got power,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said. “A lot of things that we’re very excited about.”

Jackson was a three-year starter at left guard who moved to left tackle midway through his senior season after an injury at that position, even though the switch posed a potential risk to his draft stock.

“I just wanted to win," said Jackson, who allowed only five sacks in 1,293 pass blocking snaps in his college career, according to Pro Football Focus analysis.

After struggling for several years to stabilize their offensive line, the Vikings finally got aggressive and signed center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries in free agency — both away from Indianapolis — for a combined, guaranteed total of more than $53 million.

Now they'll likely have three new starters in the middle between standout tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill. Center Garrett Bradbury was released and signed with New England. Right guard Dalton Risner became a free agent. Left guard Blake Brandel, who was drafted as a tackle, could become a versatile backup.

“The ability to have a collection of five guys up front playing as one with the type of skill sets and physical ability we have now gives me really good feelings about what we can be,” O'Connell said, “not only this year, but beyond.”

The timing couldn't be better, with the offense about to be turned over to quarterback J.J. McCarthy, whose preseason knee injury last year prevented him from playing as a rookie.

The Vikings have only three picks remaining in this draft, one in the third round on Friday and one each in the fifth and seventh rounds on Saturday.

Because of that and their lack of a glaring need, unlike last year when they drafted McCarthy, they were a prime candidate to move down.

There were two trades made right behind them, with the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons swooping in to pick at No. 25 and 26, but general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said the Vikings were too enamored with Jackson to be tempted to slide down with the risk he'd go elsewhere.

For years, the tackles were the biggest-money positions on the line, but the guards have been catching up in importance — and salary.

“I think you’ve seen in the market the value that’s been assigned to it,” Adofo-Mensah said.

Jackson considered declaring for the draft a year ago, so the Vikings have had a close eye on him for awhile. When he made his recent pre-draft visit to team headquarters, he met McCarthy, a Michigan product who won the national championship the year before Ohio State.

The time for rivalry-fueled animosity, though, has passed.

“We’re going to leave that in college," McCarthy told Jackson then.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Minnesota Vikings cheerleaders and mascot celebrate after the team picked Ohio State offensive lineman Donovan Jackson at No. 24 in the first round during the Vikings NFL football draft party Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Fans anticipate their team's first-round pick during the Minnesota Vikings NFL football draft party Thursday, April 24, 2025 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

A fan wears a helmet during the Minnesota Vikings NFL football draft party Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah answers questions during a press conference Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Eagan, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)