Darrisaw/Spielman/Zimmer pressers:

According to Zimmer, they were considering defense as well. A few players the Vikings liked went off the board between 14 and 23. I'm guessing Phillips and Paye. Also says the Vikings had three players they liked at 21 and so knew they'd get one at 23. Any guesses on the three? Darrisaw is obviously one. Paye went at 21, so he's probably another. Who's the 3rd? Probably Rousseau who went at 30.

@"MaroonBells" said: According to Zimmer, they were considering defense as well. A few players the Vikings liked went off the board between 14 and 23. I'm guessing Phillips and Paye. Also says the Vikings had three players they liked at 21 and so knew they'd get one at 23. Any guesses on the three? Darrisaw is obviously one. Paye went at 21, so he's probably another. Who's the 3rd? Probably Rousseau who went at 30.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: According to Zimmer, they were considering defense as well. A few players the Vikings liked went off the board between 14 and 23. I'm guessing Phillips and Paye. Also says the Vikings had three players they liked at 21 and so knew they'd get one at 23. Any guesses on the three? Darrisaw is obviously one. Paye went at 21, so he's probably another. Who's the 3rd? Probably Rousseau who went at 30.

For me, I'm very glad they didn't go defense. The biggest hole on the team was LT, now that's filled. Want to get funky now, go for it tonight. I'm glad Darrisaw is done and done in purple.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: According to Zimmer, they were considering defense as well. A few players the Vikings liked went off the board between 14 and 23. I'm guessing Phillips and Paye. Also says the Vikings had three players they liked at 21 and so knew they'd get one at 23. Any guesses on the three? Darrisaw is obviously one. Paye went at 21, so he's probably another. Who's the 3rd? Probably Rousseau who went at 30.

For me, I'm very glad they didn't go defense. The biggest hole on the team was LT, now that's filled. Want to get funky now, go for it tonight. I'm glad Darrisaw is done and done in purple.

Trenches were for sure their priority as it should have been..

"I hate to say 'instant starter;' this guy's got to come in and prove himself like everybody else does," Zimmer said. "But hopefully, that's what he is. It was important for us to get some more size for our offensive line. ... We feel like we're athletic, but you end up going up against some really big defensive linemen. That was one of the things we talked about."

" gives you a lot of opportunity to do a lot of things," Spielman said.
Sitting on a boatload of draft picks may not have as much value in 2021. The draft class is smaller, with the NCAA granting extra eligibility during the pandemic, so Spielman may be willing to part with more picks than normal.
"A lot of the players that were going to get picked in the draft this year, a lot of them probably decided to stay," Zimmer said. "Rick told me there's like 500 less players in the draft this year than previous years. The pool of players is a lot smaller."

https://www.startribune.com/christian-darrisaw-vikings-first-round-pick-nfl-draft/600051853/

@"purplefaithful" said: Trenches were for sure their priority as it should have been..

"I hate to say 'instant starter;' this guy's got to come in and prove himself like everybody else does," Zimmer said. "But hopefully, that's what he is. It was important for us to get some more size for our offensive line. ... We feel like we're athletic, but you end up going up against some really big defensive linemen. That was one of the things we talked about."

" gives you a lot of opportunity to do a lot of things," Spielman said.
Sitting on a boatload of draft picks may not have as much value in 2021. The draft class is smaller, with the NCAA granting extra eligibility during the pandemic, so Spielman may be willing to part with more picks than normal.
"A lot of the players that were going to get picked in the draft this year, a lot of them probably decided to stay," Zimmer said. "Rick told me there's like 500 less players in the draft this year than previous years. The pool of players is a lot smaller."

https://www.startribune.com/christian-darrisaw-vikings-first-round-pick-nfl-draft/600051853/

I read somewhere they was trying to move up and get Slater originally.
we should be able to pick up some quality players tonight...Rick just don't screw it up. =)

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: According to Zimmer, they were considering defense as well. A few players the Vikings liked went off the board between 14 and 23. I'm guessing Phillips and Paye. Also says the Vikings had three players they liked at 21 and so knew they'd get one at 23. Any guesses on the three? Darrisaw is obviously one. Paye went at 21, so he's probably another. Who's the 3rd? Probably Rousseau who went at 30.

For me, I'm very glad they didn't go defense. The biggest hole on the team was LT, now that's filled. Want to get funky now, go for it tonight. I'm glad Darrisaw is done and done in purple.

PFF Trade Grade:

MINNESOTA VIKINGS AND NEW YORK JETSThe Jets moved up nine spots and gave up two third-rounders in the process, one of them being the 66th overall pick. They got back pick No. 143, which mitigated the losses a bit, as they lose this trade 67% of the time without getting that selection. Last year, we discussed that asking for at least a Day 3 pick is always a good strategy when dealing Day 2 picks to move up.

Using the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, this trade is almost even, showing again that most teams still use the outdated guide, which doesn’t come close to reflecting the true value of a pick.
From the Vikings’ point of view, this trade was a no-brainer, as they received two valuable Day 2 picks to move down only 9 spots in the first round. It turns out that the 70th percentile outcome of what they gave up is worth as much as the median outcome of what they received. What makes the trade even better is that they still were able to pick Virginia Tech tackle Christian Darrisaw, a prospect who was thought to be on their radar at Pick 14.
Vikings grade: A
From the Jets' point of view, it’s hard to find any justification for this pick. They surrendered much more trade value than they received, but they also used the pick for what they announced as an offensive guard. Here is the thing about spending a lot of resources to grab an offensive guard in the first round of the NFL draft: Teams are generally not good at finding the best guards in a draft class, and guards age very well and are fairly cheap on the market. That is, they can be acquired in free agency and will still play well for a relatively long time.

Additionally, there are diminishing returns for elite offensive linemen. That is, the goal should be to invest a decent amount of resources into building a known functional offensive line instead of investing major resources into having an alleged elite offensive line.
Furthermore, this draft is very rich in offensive linemen, and the Jets would have surely gotten a good one at Pick No. 23, too. Trading up to select USC’s Alijah Vera-Tucker was a classic case of not wanting to miss out on the prospect they fell in love with — the type of process that leads to mistakes more often than not.
Jets grade: F

@"minny65" said: PFF Trade Grade:

MINNESOTA VIKINGS AND NEW YORK JETSThe Jets moved up nine spots and gave up two third-rounders in the process, one of them being the 66th overall pick. They got back pick No. 143, which mitigated the losses a bit, as they lose this trade 67% of the time without getting that selection. Last year, we discussed that asking for at least a Day 3 pick is always a good strategy when dealing Day 2 picks to move up.

Using the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, this trade is almost even, showing again that most teams still use the outdated guide, which doesn’t come close to reflecting the true value of a pick.
From the Vikings’ point of view, this trade was a no-brainer, as they received two valuable Day 2 picks to move down only 9 spots in the first round. It turns out that the 70th percentile outcome of what they gave up is worth as much as the median outcome of what they received. What makes the trade even better is that they still were able to pick Virginia Tech tackle Christian Darrisaw, a prospect who was thought to be on their radar at Pick 14.
Vikings grade: A
From the Jets' point of view, it’s hard to find any justification for this pick. They surrendered much more trade value than they received, but they also used the pick for what they announced as an offensive guard. Here is the thing about spending a lot of resources to grab an offensive guard in the first round of the NFL draft: Teams are generally not good at finding the best guards in a draft class, and guards age very well and are fairly cheap on the market. That is, they can be acquired in free agency and will still play well for a relatively long time.

Additionally, there are diminishing returns for elite offensive linemen. That is, the goal should be to invest a decent amount of resources into building a known functional offensive line instead of investing major resources into having an alleged elite offensive line.
Furthermore, this draft is very rich in offensive linemen, and the Jets would have surely gotten a good one at Pick No. 23, too. Trading up to select USC’s Alijah Vera-Tucker was a classic case of not wanting to miss out on the prospect they fell in love with — the type of process that leads to mistakes more often than not.
Jets grade: F