Vikings Post-Draft

The NFL Draft occurred over the past few days, and I was watching pretty contently through the first four rounds. Generally speaking, I really liked what I saw.

Things started with a bang on the first night. We used the Browns' fear that another team would trade up and take Trent Richardson to move back a single slot and pick up 3 additional late round picks. Then we grabbed Matt Kalil as we had intended to for months, no matter what Rick Spielman wanted everybody to think. Kalil is the top left tackle prospect in years, and while he's not Jake Long or Joe Thomas, he's immeasurably better than what we had (Charlie Johnson) or even what we have had for ages (Bryant McKinney). He's an athletic blind side protector who is intent on doing things the right way -- whether it's technique on the field or building up power in the weight room to improve his run blocking. Almost as important, it lets us move Charlie Johnson inside to guard, where a lot of people suspect he's a better fit. Along with some off season moves we made, our O line is suddenly adequate if not legitimately strong instead of one of the top liabilities on the team.

Later, we used some of the ammunition we got from that early trade to move back into the first round to pick up Notre Dame safety Harrison Smith. Smith was the consensus number 2 safety in the draft, and last season made it incredibly clear that we had nothing at the position. Smith worked with our coaching staff extensively at the Senior Bowl, and they fell in love with him. Not only his talent and his positioning on the field, but his presence in meetings and his leadership. He should be a day one starter and provide a serious improvement in our secondary.

Our secondary saw further improvement with Josh Robinson, CB out of the University of Central Florida. Robinson set the fastest 40 time at the Combine, running it in 4.29 seconds. On top of that, he put up 17 reps of 225 lbs on the bench press, more than many larger, supposedly stronger backs. He should provide a powerful jam at the line of scrimmage, and he has the speed to recover if he gets burned and make plays on the ball from the other side of the field, and he's a willing tackler. He's an early entry from a mediocre program, so he may not be ready to jump in and start immediately is up to question, but he could develop into something special.

The fourth round saw a number of interesting picks. First being Arkansas wide receiver Jarius Wright. I watched a lot of Hogs games last fall with one of my roommates who comes from the state. Wright is small and best fit to line up in the slot, where we already have Percy Harvin, so a lot of fans may not like the pick. I've seen him play, though, and he's nothing like Harvin. He's possibly faster and more explosive, even if he doesn't have the strength or dynamic ability in the open field. Most important, though, he's a great route runner, which can't really be said about, really, anybody else on the roster. Combined with his speed, this makes him a great deep threat down the middle. I'm honestly excited about the potential to line Wright and Harvin both up on the slot or, better yet, Wright in the slot and Harvin in the backfield and play games with opposing defenses.

Later in the 4th, we picked up a second Arkansas receiver, Greg Childs. Childs is 6'3" and possesses ridiculous speed (clocked at 4.38 at his pro day). He produced extremely well while healthy, but he tore his patella tendon in 2010 and tried to come back too soon, hurting his 2011 performance. Because of this, I haven't seen as much of Childs, but he's a prototypical number 1 receiver in terms of size and ability. Friends who have watched him insist that he's a first or second round talent if not for the injury limiting his exposure last season, and scouts seem to agree. He was a steal who could pay dividends for years to come if he adapts well to the pros.

Between those picks, we made an incredibly un-glamorous but essential decision with USC FB/TE Rhett Ellison. With Jimmy Kleinsasser having retired, we were seriously lacking in supplementary blockers. Current top TEs Kyle Rudolph and John Carlson are great receivers but are only adequate at best in the blocking game. Ellison didn't have a lot of buzz in the media, but Spielman insists that there were other teams planning on grabbing him in the fourth round. Ellison is a hulking guy who was responsible for making holes nearly every time he was on the field last year, and he did it well, considering the high power of USCs offense. I'm sure the Vikings saw plenty of tape on him when they were doing their homework on Kalil, and this is a pick that should pay dividends with AP returning from knee injury and Toby Gerhart being a less dynamic runner in general.

In the top of the fifth, we made possibly our most questionable choice, drafting another DB from Notre Dame. I really haven't been able to find out much about Robert Blanton, other than the fact that nobody seems to see him as a CB in the NFL, meaning he may move over to Safety next to his past and present teammate. Considering the decisions made up to this point, though, I'm going to express faith in the pick. Time will tell, and everything is a crap shoot at this point in the draft, anyway.

We finally started the hunt for a successor to Ryan Longwell in the sixth, where we grabbed Georgia kicker Blair Walsh. Longwell had his worst season in ages last year, missing six kicks, and it's fully possible that he'll continue to regress as he pushes on towards 40. Blair might get knocked for inaccuracy after going 21/35 last season, but 10 of his 14 misses came from 40 or more yards as Georgia kicked more than any other team in the FBS. Kicks that long are always a crapshoot for college players, and he hit a long of 56 yards, so he's got the leg. NFL conditioning and coaching should help his accuracy. It could be an interesting camp for the old guard in special teams.

I honestly don't know much of anything about either of our seventh round picks (UNC linebacker Audie Cole and Cal DE/DT Trevor Guyton) except that several scouts had fourth round grades on the both of them and both play positions where we can always use depth. Along with the bevy of undrafted rookie free agents we've already reached agreements with, they'll fight for positions throughout training camp and provide perspective on our current crop of players.

In short, we've become a much better team over the past 48+ hours. I'm not holding out that we'll be truly competitive, but climbing back up as 6-10 is certainly possible. We've got potentially strong pieces in place at positions where we had nothing. We won't have nothing to work with coming into the draft next year, meaning we can focus on depth and a much smaller number of holes. I feel good about being a Vikings fan right now. Much better, certainly, than I was after that dark, dark Packers game in November.