Who should the Vikes draft?

[zepman]

To answer this quesrtion: The best available pass rusher or defender. The Giants have proved this point more than once. Defense beats offense much like pitching beats hitting.

Vikes need sooooo much help...let's hope they trade down and pick up help on both sides of this equation.

[LMITOUT]

Defense beats offense much like pitching beats hitting.

How'd that work out for Denver?

Thank goodness for their defense, holding Brady to only 45 points.

LOL.

[PierBridge]

Did you guys enjoy those defensive battles this weekend? All I needed was 1 freaking score in the 2nd half of the Ravens game to have a clean sweep on the OVERS. We are at an all time NFL high for points scored at this point in the playoffs with 270 points scored...

But hey defense wins championships .... if it's the 70's or 80's... LOL.

I will add with the parity in todays NFL there is a chance Baltimore could be the 1st team in 9 years to win a super bowl with-out an Elite QB and Receiving core.

In order dating back.... A Rodgers MVP, Drew Bree's MVP, Big Ben Shoulda been MVP, E Manning MVP, P Manning MVP, Big Ben, T. Brady, T Brady MVP.

But lets take that shutdown corner as if there is such a thing... hardy har har.....good one!

Quote:

"Defense beats offense much like pitching beats hitting.

Thats absurd to say the least~

Go Vikes~

[zepman]

Yeah, I forgot I guess. Pittsburgh has no defense...the Giants have no defense either. And If I remember correctly, the story of the Saints making their run was their attacking style defense and take-away capabilities. Greg Williams blitz packages were one of the biggest stories of that play-off season.

Eli and Big Ben elite quarterbacks...not at the time they won their rings.

Ben won one as a rookie...but he had no defense then either.

Alex Smith has a chance at a ring this year too...add him to the elite status while you're at it. The 49'ers went 13-3 this year but they don't play defense out West, do they?

[Ybone]

Probably no one will agree with me but Leslie's 1st big mistake was trying to make a point by getting rid of his starting left tackle in the 1st few days of training camp with no viable alternative. He's good enough to play all year for one of the teams still in the playoffs. Now backed into a corner they have to consider using the #3 draft choice for a left tackle.

[james_walleye]

Seems to me that in 3 of the 4 games, the team with the better defense won. It also seems that in 3 of the 4 games the team that possessed the most superior WR between the 2 teams lost. Sounds like a great reason to draft a WR at 3 to me. Drafting Blackmon at 3 isn't going to happen. The sooner you realize that Matt Millen the less the rest of us have to listen to that garbage.

I just did a Google search and looked at 10 different publications that ranked their top 10 recievers in the NFL today. The common theme? Most weren't involved in the playoffs and I saw not 1 name in 10 publications rankings that will be playing this weekend. Yet we should take a WR at 3. Lol give me a break!

[LMITOUT]

RGIII

[james_walleye]

I would rather see him than Blackmon.....

[simple1]

Not all the great teams have an elite LT also. Its nice to have, but you can build a quality line with later draft picks if your GM knows anything about football. Defense is still very much an important aspect of football. Teams are scoring more now, but defenses still show up in the post season. The Pack would have only scored 6 points if it wasn't for the two absurd calls that allowed them to go on and score their only 2 touch downs.

The Vikes have a lot of work to do. They do need a receiver that can catch and run routes, and some Dbacks that can play. And an organization should always look to add quality to the front 7 whenever they see an opportunity. I say trade that pick and attempt to get 1 late first and 3 second round picks. They could trade their pick for a first and second and turn around again and trade their new first round pick for first and second. Teams are built in the later rounds.

Good luck to Viking fans,

Simple1

[zepman]

"teams are built in the later rounds"

I agree.

The Viking's arrogance and complete lack of vision in the last 3-4 drafts has landed them in a position where they can't even get a defensive coordinator to take a job here. Two have turned them down already.

The cupboard is bare...really bare. I've said it for the past two years...if Ponder doesn't hit...get ready for a decade like the Lions just went through.

Frazier can't sell his product and Chilly won't get hired by another team...go figure. The Wilf's are stuck paying two coaches already and a GM with a BAD track record.

Free agency will be full of "just misses", unless we over-pay for marginal players...(see Bernard Berrian).

It just amazes me how a fan-base can see the deficiencies in a team...two years in advance...and watch them do nothing about it. O-Line and D- Backs have been a concern for at least that time period.

Free agency arrives before the draft...let's hope they adress at least one, if not both, of these positions before their 1st selection this Spring.

[Fish Head]

Its going to be a long rebuilding process. No offensive line, no defensive backfield, only one linebacker, etc...

On the bright side, it's nice to be picking near the top of the draft. I wouldn't mind getting the tackle from USC, but I would even be happier if they traded down a few picks.

I agree 100% that teams are built in the latter rounds. For the most part, the Vikings have done a terrible job of that. we need our 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th round players to turn into quality starters. The track record hasn't been very good lately.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

I think if the vikes can trade back a spot or two or three and still get Justin Blackmon that would be the way to go... That guy is a freak and he and Harvin would be a lethal combo.... You SHOULD be able to get quality offensive line help in the 2nd or 3rd rounds, but i dont know if our scouting staff knows what they are doing.

The vikes most GLARING need on defense is a good safety, even a DECENT safety would help. Our safeties have to be the worst in the NFL without question. THey should target the best f/a safety in my opinion as drafting that position is a toss-up i.e-tyrel johnson. If they can just manage THAT much, they should be in much better shape next year

[james_walleye]

It's much easier to find good recievers in later rounds. See the WR cores of the packers, saints, and patriots for proof.

[FISHINGURU]

It's all hit or miss, don't matter what position you add if they are a pie stain. There's a stud out there at every position you just gotta be lucky enough.

Teams can turn it around and make runs going from the bottom to the top. The Bengals made the playoffs, they took a WR at #4. Denver made a nice run with the OLB they took at #2. 49ers took a DE at #7, ect. No one thought any of them teams would make it to the playoffs after doing so bad the year before.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Hey James walley- I wonder if the Saints, Packers and Patriots Qb's help make those late round recievers good????? Any reciever with a pulse looks good on those teams...

Give me Blackmon and he'll make the vikes QB (whoever that may be) better imo...

[BuckSutherland]

Hey James walley- I wonder if the Saints, Packers and Patriots Qb's help make those late round recievers good????? Any reciever with a pulse looks good on those teams...

Give me Blackmon and he'll make the vikes QB (whoever that may be) better imo...

Did Brady's jersey even get dirty against the Broncos? Its all about protection. Blackmon will be a bust just like roy williams an all the other recievers drafted early. He will be the TO, ochocinco type that becomes a cancer to his team. Real smart. Lets not get Peterson and Ponder someone that can give them some time to even be successful. I mean we have only staked the futrure of the franchise on them.

And Speilman(i mean pierbridge) It may interest you to know that 2 of the top defenses this year are still alive and have a chance to go to the superbowl.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Read my earlier post guy... I said u SHOULD be able to get good O-lineman in rounds 2, 3, 4 ect... I dont know if i trust our scouting dept. to do that though. Blackmon WILL NOT be a bust, the guy is a freak... More like calvin johnson and AJ Green then Roy Williams. Top 5 picks shouldnt be wasted on O lineman, there are lots of great big farm boys to choose from, not a lot of freakish wide outs

[james_walleye]

Hey James walley- I wonder if the Saints, Packers and Patriots Qb's help make those late round recievers good????? Any reciever with a pulse looks good on those teams...

Give me Blackmon and he'll make the vikes QB (whoever that may be) better imo...

Not with the line the vikings have lol! A passing game is nothing without time to throw. This team goes NOWHERE without line help. No NFL team goes anywhere with a garbage OL. You just said yourself those 3 teams WRs look good because of their qbs. They have no standouts. So why in earth should the vikings want to start with that building block? It makes ZERO sense.

[james_walleye]

Read my earlier post guy... I said u SHOULD be able to get good O-lineman in rounds 2, 3, 4 ect... I dont know if i trust our scouting dept. to do that though. Blackmon WILL NOT be a bust, the guy is a freak... More like calvin johnson and AJ Green then Roy Williams. Top 5 picks shouldnt be wasted on O lineman, there are lots of great big farm boys to choose from, not a lot of freakish wide outs

Interesting, since the last can't miss reciever was Michael Crabtree lol.

[Scott K]

Chicken or the egg guys. To be honest, the team will improve regardless if we take Blockman, Luck, RG3, Kalil, or trade for a couple more 1st picks. We are in a position to improve 1 part of the team with a very good player, we should be happy with any of the mentioned. The fact is, it doesnt matter which player they pick, it wont make the team a contender, and they will either have to get really lucky in the later rounds, and, or spend a lot in free agency. The value of the 3rd pick is higher then it has ever been before, so we more then likely will be knocked off our feet with a bunch of picks, and trade out of the pick.

[gopher_nation]

Free agency will point towards what the team is planning to do in the draft.

[TR21HP]

Agree with free agency dictating what to do with the draft but free agency is just as much a gamble as the draft as the Eagles found out this year. The Vikings have to place a higher emphasis on player development, you just don't see the individual player growth on the Vikes as you see on other teams and that rests with the coaching staff.

[james_walleye]

I guess the main reason I'm on board with taking Kalil if they stay at 3 is because there is a whole load of good recievers available in FA. There is exactly 1 left tackle. It's going to be a whole lot easier to bring in a good WR via FA than that lone tackle. And we will know before the draft if a reciever is brought in or not. I believe this is the smartest path.

[BuckSutherland]

Agree with free agency dictating what to do with the draft but free agency is just as much a gamble as the draft as the Eagles found out this year. The Vikings have to place a higher emphasis on player development, you just don't see the individual player growth on the Vikes as you see on other teams and that rests with the coaching staff.

Right on. Agree 100%. Never been a fan of the huge free agent contracts.

[collegepaul]

Read my earlier post guy... I said u SHOULD be able to get good O-lineman in rounds 2, 3, 4 ect...Top 5 picks shouldnt be wasted on O lineman, there are lots of great big farm boys to choose from, not a lot of freakish wide outs

That's true except for left tackles; NFL teams put a premium on blindside blockers because it's very difficult to find "big farm boys" that are 300 pounds+ and athletic enough to defend against a speed rusher (see "Farmboy" McKinnie vs. Freeney, Peppers, Brett Favre's ankle after the Saints game, and others which he was too slow to block).

IMO, I'd rather see the Vikings draft Tommy Streeter (WR, 6'4", 215) from Miami in the 2nd or 3rd round. He's considered very talented but still raw and needs time to develop but he could (not saying he will) turn out to be just as good or better as Blackmon in a year or two.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1630465/tommy-streeter

[Scott K]

I am thinking 2nd round we should be addressing our secondary, or lack there of.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Agreed, but is this USC tackle the ONLY good blindside blocker in the draft??? I find that VERY hard to believe. I just want the vikes to get better and I think they will be no matter what they do in the draft and free agency, cuz its pretty tough to be any worse!!!!!

[collegepaul]

Agreed, but is this USC tackle the ONLY good blindside blocker in the draft??? I find that VERY hard to believe. I just want the vikes to get better and I think they will be no matter what they do in the draft and free agency, cuz its pretty tough to be any worse!!!!!

After Reiff and Martin, I haven't heard of anyone that could step right in and start at left tackle. We all want to see the Vikings get better and there is more than one way of doing it. Learning from prior mistakes ('98 and '09) shouldn't be forgotten in the rebuilding process.

[thatoneguy]

The best thing the Vikes have going for them is who drafts after them - Cleveland, who would LOVE to get RG3.

In addition, you have Washington (#6) and Miami (#9) that definitely need an upgrade at QB, and possibly others like Seattle, creating the very real possibility of a mini-bidding war to trade up for the #3 pick.

MN is in a good spot because they can hold out for a great package and trade down a couple spots (still getting an impact player), or if they don't get what they like they can take Kalil or Claiborne and get an elite prospect at a crucial position of need.

FWIW Mel Kiper has Claiborne as his 4th best player overall (not that Kiper is the source of all knowledge, but he's a good evaluator). I don't think it can even be argued that MN needs more help in the defensive backfield than anywhere else. The more I think about it, the more I like Claiborne, especially if they trade down a pick or three.

I wouldn't be upset if they took Blackmon, but I think they can do a lot better. Heck, I wouldn't even be upset if they took RG3, though I don't think there's a chance in Hades that will happen.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

They had better be sure ponder or webb is the guy then, cuz from what ive seen, RG3 is gonna be a stud. Not only is he as athletic as anyone in the draft but he is very intelligent too. I like the idea of taking a tackle in the draft because you can solve two spots with one pick by moving Johnson to guard, just NOT with a top 5 pick. I like a skill position player with where we pick- WR, CB, or even RG3!