RandBall: The NFL draft starts three months from today. Here are five things for Minnesota fans to know.

The NFL cedes about a month out of every year to other sports on the calendar, probably grudgingly so even if the space — from mid-to-late June until the start of training camps in late July — finds a lot of us distracted anyway by vacation, sunshine and other such things.

The Super Bowl gives way quickly to the scouting combine in late February, the start of free agency in March and league meetings soon after that. A constant hum that grows into a roar during that time, of course: the NFL draft, which reverberates for months as rookies pile into team headquarters, eventually joined by veterans, for camps and the most NFL of all acronyms (OTAs, short for organized team activities, which really could be anything but usually are code for practices).

Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins and I talked extensively about the Vikings’ offseason agenda on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

The draft begins three months from Friday, and no matter the circumstances any fan base will believe it is extremely important. The infinite possibilities, the endless speculation and the real chance to get better? No wonder the draft is such a big deal.

As such, here are five things Minnesota fans should have on their radar in the next few months:

1. The Vikings have their first-round pick but not much else. After various trades and levers pulled, the Vikings are left with just the No. 24 overall pick and two fifth-rounders in this year’s draft. They likely will add another pick at the end of the third round as compensation for losing Kirk Cousins in free agency last offseason, one more parting gift from a very wise series of events.

2. The Vikings have more needs than picks. The Vikings figure to be active in free agency again this season given their ample salary cap space and several areas of need. But at some point, they also need to stock their roster with younger and less expensive talent, something that will be a challenge given their limited picks this season.

In his most recent mock draft, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. has the Vikings choosing Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison at No. 24 overall. But the Vikings also have holes on the interior of both the offensive and defensive lines as well as running back, again depending on how free agency shakes out.

It would seem Minnesota is a candidate to try to trade down from the No. 24 pick to stockpile more capital, particularly because the positions they figure to be looking at can be acquired with smart picks during Day Two (second and third rounds). Even with scant few picks at the start, it’s a big draft for GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, whose body of work in his first three drafts leaves a lot to be desired.

3. In the big picture, this is not a prime QB draft. That explains, again, why the Vikings explored a move up in the QB-rich draft of 2023 and became locked in on getting their future QB in 2024 before nabbing J.J. McCarthy with the No. 10 overall pick. Kiper has two QBs projected to go in the top three of the draft (Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders), but none in the rest of the first round.

4. Will a Gophers player be a first-round pick? Though not in Kiper’s first-round mock draft, Gophers offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery lands as Matt Miller’s 29th-best draft prospect and shows up in other first-round mocks. A total of 15 Gophers players have been chosen in the last five drafts, including four second-rounders and first-round receiver Rashod Bateman in 2021.

5. Are you ready for a cheesy draft? The NFL draft was first held in 1936, and it has never been closer to Minneapolis than it will be this year as Green Bay (a little more than four hours by car) hosts it for the first time. New York hosted 50 drafts in a row between 1965 and 2014 before the league started rotating it to different locations. An added dimension if you are thinking about going: The Packers have the No. 23 pick, one spot ahead of the Vikings.