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I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts?
Personally, I would have liked to see the Vikings draft a receiving/3rd down RB with one of those late picks. I liked Justin Jackson and Akrum Wadley at the end of the 6th/early 7th.
My favorite picks were Carlson and Aruna. Jalyn Holmes is a long, strong guy with some good athletic traits as well. I thought they might look at him as a LDE for his run stopping ability, but it looks like he'll kick inside.
Knew nothing about Devonte Downs prior to the draft, but read an article that had him pegged as a sleeper. Injured most of this year, but he was a tackling/turnover machine prior to getting hurt. Looks good as a blitzer in the limited video I found on him. Apparently the Patriots were heavily linked to him as well as the Vikings pre-draft. Might make the team as a special teams player.
Anyone feel better about the draft now? Or did it suck?
Quote: @Wetlander said:
I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts?
Personally, I would have liked to see the Vikings draft a receiving/3rd down RB with one of those late picks. I liked Justin Jackson and Akrum Wadley at the end of the 6th/early 7th.
My favorite picks were Carlson and Aruna. Jalyn Holmes is a long, strong guy with some good athletic traits as well. I thought they might look at him as a LDE for his run stopping ability, but it looks like he'll kick inside.
Knew nothing about Devonte Downs prior to the draft, but read an article that had him pegged as a sleeper. Injured most of this year, but he was a tackling/turnover machine prior to getting hurt. Looks good as a blitzer in the limited video I found on him. Apparently the Patriots were heavily linked to him as well as the Vikings pre-draft. Might make the team as a special teams player.
Anyone feel better about the draft now? Or did it suck?
I'm still not sure that we accomplished the one thing we needed in this draft and that is a starting OLineman. I dont think O'Niel is ready to start and I don't think Hill at RT is the answer.
There isn't a single player they drafted that I've ever heard of before. That really doesn't mean much though because I don't follow draft prospects hardly at all. Also, I remember a few years ago they drafted some safety from Notre Dame named Harrison Smith that I never heard of. I think that one worked out fairly well. B)
I'm surprised you didn't mention Colby Gossett. Guy was on a ton of sleeper/hidden gem lists. Might be my favorite pick in the draft. Of course that could be because I was so focused on OL.
I like the kicker pick. At least we got ONE starter from this draft. LOL. Really like the UDFA list as well, with Mata'afa, Holton Hill, Roc Thomas. According to Brandt we got the top DL and the top DB available. If you keep Hill away from the dealers after he gets paid, you might have a genuine steal.
I like Hughes a lot, but I'm a little uneasy about O'Neill. He looked pretty bad in Senior Bowl practices, and that's not a good sign. Actually, Gossett looked better at the Senior Bowl than O'Neill. O'Neill is going to need some serious coaching and time in the weight room. Spielman says he's going to compete with Hill for the starting RT job, but he's probably a year away from winning it.
It's still hard to get the image of taking a 4th corner over all those beautiful guards, but we'll see. Sometimes the draft just falls right for you (2015, 2017), and sometimes it doesn't (2016). I think that's what happened this year. Rick says they considered trading down, but there were 3 or 4 players they would stay at 30 for. Hughes was one. I'm guessing Wynn, Price and Ragnow might have been the others. If one of those had dropped, then the entire draft would've fallen differently.
Interesting, weird, promising, unsatisfying draft, followed by what looks to be yet another exceptional UDFA class. But the bottom line for me is this: a team on the verge comes away with just one starter...a kicker.
Quote: @Wetlander said:
I'm curious to hear everyone's thoughts?
Personally, I would have liked to see the Vikings draft a receiving/3rd down RB with one of those late picks. I liked Justin Jackson and Akrum Wadley at the end of the 6th/early 7th.
My favorite picks were Carlson and Aruna. Jalyn Holmes is a long, strong guy with some good athletic traits as well. I thought they might look at him as a LDE for his run stopping ability, but it looks like he'll kick inside.
Knew nothing about Devonte Downs prior to the draft, but read an article that had him pegged as a sleeper. Injured most of this year, but he was a tackling/turnover machine prior to getting hurt. Looks good as a blitzer in the limited video I found on him. Apparently the Patriots were heavily linked to him as well as the Vikings pre-draft. Might make the team as a special teams player.
Anyone feel better about the draft now? Or did it suck?
It was underwhelming. They take Holmes who they project as an interior pass rushing TD when Hurst is sitting right there.
Then they panic (it seemed to me) and move up for Conklin who a lot of folks are saying is a "move" TE. That 4.8 forty is not going to get much separation in the NFL. But Brent Celek ran a 4.79 so maybe he might occasionally get open. It will have to be sneaky cause he ain't running away from NFL defenders.
The kicker move was weird because I thought Forbath was good enough. Carlson was 21 for 28 on field goals last year but of those misses were from 50+ yards. Still has to be a bit concerning.
The best pick to me was Colby Gossett OG. That saved the second day for me.
Aruna was a decent pick but another head scratcher with Weatherly, Bower, and Idenigbo on the roster. Plus, I think Duke Ejiofor was better (his stats prove it) who they could have had in the 5th. That could just be my own bias though.
I did not like the LB pick at all. He was OK at Cal. They brought in Quentin Poling for a visit and he was sitting there available.
Poling had 373 tackles, 18 sacks, 7 ints, & 15 pds. He ran a 4.58 forty too.
Downs had 211 tackles, 8 sacks, 5 ints, & 2 pds. Don't know Downs time but nfldraftscout shows 4.72.
Leon Jacobs was there too and he is super athletic.
Getting Holton Hill as an UDFA saved it for me. Gossett and Hill make day 2 passable for me.
I am not impressed with kickers or punters. They can always be found after the draft and are overrated.
I think it was not good enough. Mainly the quality O line problems and future starters are a big maybe.
Dont get me wrong, I want to like Hughes and hope he works out as the nickle and special teams ace. I hope he lights teams hair on fire returning kicks. Oneil seems like a really interesting project. I hope they do some TE stuff with him. The guy is a freak but I really doubt that becoming a starting RT is in his future. The NFL has its recipe for what works. He doesnt fit the mold. Maybe he breaks it and starts a new trend. The guy reminds me of Shaq! Bigger than anyone else and can still move. They might have to nickname him Diesel.
What I really think is that this may be the beginning of the window closing. I know it sounds premature...and it is. But the biggest difference between teams who stay on top and those the go through steep cycles is their ability to consistently draft well. Its doubly hard to do because you are usually drafting at the back of the pack. Drafting well means getting your weak spots filled. Vikes didnt do it. It wont hurt this year but in 1-2 years they may not have that group of guys stepping up becoming starters.
There are things they can do to mitigate a bad draft like being active in FA to help fill selected holes.
The other thing is to start stockpiling draft picks. Its been discussed and its a tough subject but at some point they have to decide if they want to keep a guy and what the reality of the cap is. Get it done early because if it doesnt work then you trade the guy for draft picks. Its a tough business and a tough game to stay at the top year after year. Bringing in good, high picks is part of the formula.
Guys with big contracts will need to be flexible if they want to remain. This is going to put more pressure on the upcoming Hunter/Barr/Diggs contracts.
None of us can really (or honestly) say whether or not the Vikings had a good draft or not. As Jimmy said, we won't know that for at least a year or 2. We were a Super Bowl contending team last year... so, obviously, there aren't going to be alot of holes to fill. So, it appears we attempted to strengthen our depth. I guess we'll see in a couple years whether or not this was a good draft.
I have no problem with the draft. I think the only OL they wanted in the first (not counting Nelson) were McGlinchey, Miller, or Wynn. That's it. None were there and a DB they wanted was - I preferred Josh Jackson but I'm not going to say that I know better. I wanted Hurst, but if he was off their board for medical reasons (after getting almost nothing from Sharif Floyd) I understand that judgment call.
I also wanted a RB, but we have 4 already. And now we got Pettway after the draft. If he can beat out Brown or Ham, that would be great.
I thought Ronnie Harrison went really late and would have been a nice pick, although not a great need. Of course, Jax takes him.
I liked the Auburn kicker pick. We need to stabilize that position for years at a time.
The UDFA class looks really good. If Hill is serious about an NFL career he will make this team.
Let the fun begin.
This staff/front office is confident in their ability to develop players, I don't see a reason to doubt it either. You can't hit on all the picks and as was stated when you are a top team in the league you won't have a lot of holes. The few holes they do have the draft didn't really come to them. Everybody always says a sure way to fail is o reach for a need and they avoided that other than maybe the O'Neill pick-but he has the tools if they can coach him and he is dedicated. O'Neill is like Kalil who could have been really good if he had a heart/desire-hopefully this kid has a heart and desire for the NFL.
I guess there is some logic if you are drafting for depth/the future in drafting guys with high upside that you feel you can develop. They don't NEED anybody to start right away as it is right now.
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