Vikings select Pitt edge rusher Jones in third round

It took 90 picks, but Pitt got its first player selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.

That player was the team's leading sack man of 2020, Patrick Jones. He was picked in the third round by the Vikings:

He joined former Pitt offensive tackle Brian O'Neill, who was selected by the Vikings in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft:

Jones' nine-sack 2020 season earned him consensus All-America and First Team All-ACC honors as he led the conference and finished fifth in the country. His 22 career sacks rank 12th all time for the Panthers and played while playing alongside other All-America pass rushers like Jalen Twyman in 2019 and Rashad Weaver in 2020.

But Jones became the first Panther off the board late Friday night, getting the chance to work with Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer.

Jones joins a Vikings defense with Danielle Hunter and D.J. Konnum as the projected starters as edge rushers. That situation could leave the door open for Jones to push for plenty of snaps in 2021, as Hunter went from being a player with back-to-back 14.5 sack seasons in 2018 and 2019 to missing all of 2020 with a neck injury, and Konnum only has two starts after his rookie season in 2020.

Jones won't be the last Pitt player selected in this NFL Draft class, as Twyman, Weaver, Damar Hamlin, Paris Ford, and Jimmy Morrissey project as strong day three picks, and could also be joined by Jason Pinnock, Bryce Hargrove, D.J. Turner and Alex Kessman.

But seeing Jones go first shows the impact of him being a team player who trusted Pat Narduzzi's program to grow since he joined the program in 2016. After playing in 48 contests over four years, he established himself as a highly coachable hardworking edge rusher and gets to continue his career in the NFL.