I, State Your Name...

@"MarkSP18" said:

I would say you need more time before crowning his arse.  But he does look decent. The interesting thing is if anyone criciticizes the PFF grades but now accepts them. I don't think anyone is doing that here but I have seen it before. Mike Zimmer does not care about their grades. Still, imagine if the Vikings would have taken Hernandez AND O'Neill with their first two picks. They easily could have done it too. With Holton Hill playing well the Hughes pick seems like a luxury and he was just doing OK. I expect the Hughes pick is a sign that they do not plan on extending Waynes because the cost will be too high. Hopefully, Spielman can do like other GMs and trade him to get a guaranteed pick instead of waiting and hoping on a compensatory pick.

And how were the Vikings supposed to know Hill woukd go undrafted, sign with them AND look good so far?

I also don't get your point about Hughes playing outside. How many College Teams have CBs that only play the slot?  Alexander never played slot at Clemson.

Picking Hughes, who was already looking better than Alexander and also was ahead of where Waynes was as a rookie from a developmental standpoint, is smart for many reasons.

If Mac had continued his early season struggles he'd be the Dime Corner only if Hughes was still healthy. And he provides the flexibility to move on from Waynes if they can't afford him as you mentioned.

@"njvike" said: Well, I guess it's settled. He'll be a Pro Bowler for the next 10 years and never get injured. Just like Dalvin-jury is Marshall Faulk 2.0.

Good to know. 

Can Vikings fans for ONCE not get too arrogant and condescending after a few games? Especially about a drafted OL? Matt Khalil ring any bells? 

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Vikergirl" said:

@"njvike" said: Well, I guess it's settled. He'll be a Pro Bowler for the next 10 years and never get injured. Just like Dalvin-jury is Marshall Faulk 2.0.

Good to know. 

Can Vikings fans for ONCE not get too arrogant and condescending after a few games? Especially about a drafted OL? Matt Khalil ring any bells? 

Good question. Look in the mirror for once and ask yourself if you cannot get so arrogant and condescending for once when all you have is negativity to spread. Granted I am not saying there are no misses only hits. But all you talk about and see is misses. All you do is post the negative extreme. And nowhere am I seeing anyone saying anything about Pro Bowl or Marshall Failk 2.0. 

Please dont engage with the trolls.   its only feeds their self worth and gives them a feeling of belonging.

Seems to me (since this thread about the OL had turned to the DBs) that we have plenty of good options in the secondary.  If we re-sign Wayne, we'll have 2 pro-bowl caliber CBs... with 2 more CBs who could start for some teams (Hill and Hughes) and (if we keep him) we'll still have a nickel (Mack).  If we could keep them all, we'd be pretty set on the back-end.  
By the way: the DBs haven't gotten as much love as they should be getting for our 10 sacks vs. Stafford.  He clearly wanted to get rid of the ball sooner but couldn't.  I know that that doesn't show up in the stat sheets, but I'm pretty sure that the coaches will be making sure that the DBs get their due credit.

@"pumpf" said: Seems to me (since this thread about the OL had turned to the DBs) that we have plenty of good options in the secondary.  If we re-sign Wayne, we'll have 2 pro-bowl caliber CBs... with 2 more CBs who could start for some teams (Hill and Hughes) and (if we keep him) we'll still have a nickel (Mack).  If we could keep them all, we'd be pretty set on the back-end.   By the way: the DBs haven't gotten as much love as they should be getting for our 10 sacks vs. Stafford.  He clearly wanted to get rid of the ball sooner but couldn't.  I know that that doesn't show up in the stat sheets, but I'm pretty sure that the coaches will be making sure that the DBs get their due credit.

@"pumpf" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Vikergirl" said:

@"njvike" said: Well, I guess it's settled. He'll be a Pro Bowler for the next 10 years and never get injured. Just like Dalvin-jury is Marshall Faulk 2.0.

Good to know. 

Can Vikings fans for ONCE not get too arrogant and condescending after a few games? Especially about a drafted OL? Matt Khalil ring any bells? 

Good question. Look in the mirror for once and ask yourself if you cannot get so arrogant and condescending for once when all you have is negativity to spread. Granted I am not saying there are no misses only hits. But all you talk about and see is misses. All you do is post the negative extreme. And nowhere am I seeing anyone saying anything about Pro Bowl or Marshall Failk 2.0. 

Please dont engage with the trolls.   its only feeds their self worth and gives them a feeling of belonging.

Too late.  So... as long as I'm throwing moldy bread under the bridge...
Hopefully everyone can see NJ's post for what it is: a thinly disguised attempt to discredit one of Rick's draft picks.  And those who DO belong here know why he's doing that... 

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

if you are a Viking fan... which I think has been verified... then yes you do.

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

if you are a Viking fan... which I think has been verified... then yes you do.

When do we get our check marks?

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

if you are a Viking fan... which I think has been verified... then yes you do.

When do we get our check marks?

check marks?... is that like czechoslovakian currency?

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

if you are a Viking fan... which I think has been verified... then yes you do.

When do we get our check marks?

check marks?... is that like czechoslovakian currency?

lol, no the verified check marks.  Like you are the Verified one and only JimmyinSD

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

if you are a Viking fan... which I think has been verified... then yes you do.

When do we get our check marks?

check marks?... is that like czechoslovakian currency?

lol, no the verified check marks.  Like you are the Verified one and only JimmyinSD

Z@"suncoastvike" said: I take no responsibility for my ignorance. I really don't do the whole draft analysis thing. I only watch a couple college teams really. My Gators and the Gophers. So I listened to everyone else who told me he was a reach. They lied to me. I was framed. 

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

I know there is some humor in most of these replies but I'm sure not fond of the "who belongs here" perspective. I'm sure I don't belong by some accounts...but if the criteria actually is "Vikings fan", does NJVike fail? I've never seen him post a "hate the Vikings" or "glad to see them lose" thread. He has reached the conclusion Spielman must go for this team to win. He might be right. Did you kick out people who kept saying Ponder must go, or TJack, or Blair Walsh, or Frazier, or Childress? I know his posts can get repetitive, but they generate discussion, sometimes interesting. That's the point of a discussion board, right? I guess there is sometimes an argument over whether we should be discussing/debating the team here, or just cheerleading.

@"Jor-El" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

I know there is some humor in most of these replies but I'm sure not fond of the "who belongs here" perspective. I'm sure I don't belong by some accounts...but if the criteria actually is "Vikings fan", does NJVike fail? I've never seen him post a "hate the Vikings" or "glad to see them lose" thread. He has reached the conclusion Spielman must go for this team to win. He might be right. Did you kick out people who kept saying Ponder must go, or TJack, or Blair Walsh, or Frazier, or Childress? I know his posts can get repetitive, but they generate discussion, sometimes interesting. That's the point of a discussion board, right? I guess there is sometimes an argument over whether we should be discussing/debating the team here, or just cheerleading.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Jor-El" said:

@"Bezerker88" said:

Do I belong here?....

Asking for a friend. 

I know there is some humor in most of these replies but I'm sure not fond of the "who belongs here" perspective. I'm sure I don't belong by some accounts...but if the criteria actually is "Vikings fan", does NJVike fail? I've never seen him post a "hate the Vikings" or "glad to see them lose" thread. He has reached the conclusion Spielman must go for this team to win. He might be right. Did you kick out people who kept saying Ponder must go, or TJack, or Blair Walsh, or Frazier, or Childress? I know his posts can get repetitive, but they generate discussion, sometimes interesting. That's the point of a discussion board, right? I guess there is sometimes an argument over whether we should be discussing/debating the team here, or just cheerleading.

his posting goes to nearly zero when the team is producing wins,  he only shows up to drool his schtick after losses or something else that could be twisted to fit his anti spielman narrative.  I am not a huge fan of the rickster,  but even I can see his position is pretty much that of a bit poster and not really that of a fan sharing their perspectives.  even the most jaded fan finds positives from time to time and wants to discuss them.  I am not saying anybody does or doesnt belong,  but as it being a fan site,  should we see some positivity once in a while,  let alone more often than not,  when the team is having a decent year? 

Back to OT....

And by the way, I was totally right to defend the pick. My new name should be FSUDraftGuru.

But why did I like it? There's been some really great success stories regarding TEs putting on weight and converting to OTs.

Lane Johnson is the poster child but we saw another one last night: Alejandro Vilkanueva. Tried out a couple of times as a TE, didn't get picked up, went back to the Army. Eagles eventually inked him as a DE and he started putting on weight. They cut him and Tomlin immediately signed him and told him to add even more weight. Now he's a legit Franchise LT.

You can't always expect athletic TEs to bulk up, keep the weight AND keep the athleticism. But O'Neil had the work ethic and he's kept the athleticism. Sure, he was raw. But there's plenty of tales of guys struggling at Sr. Bowls and developing. And I saw none of the issues Clemmings had before he was drafted.

It was a great pick and I suspect you'll see an early pick on Guard and boy there are plenty to choose from again this year.

If Rick goes DE, DT and LB with the first 3 picks and doesn't sign any Guards, though, I will rip him a new one here ad nauseum. Until that actually happens I'm going to trust him. Signed Reiff, drafted Elf & O'Neil. He's earned the benefit of the doubt.

I loved the Hughes pick in the first and I thought that O'Neill was a reach. I didn't think he had the bulk to be a contributor right away.

Now looking at it, I love how the draft fell and who we got. We couldn't have gotten someone of Hughes impact if we would have went OL in the first. I am happy to say I was wrong about O'Neill not being ready year 1

I was for taking a CB in the first and then an OL with our second and in fact posted it many times pre draft.  Honestly I was not up on Hughes like several other corners but supported the position pick.  I really liked the O'Neill pick and predicted he would take over RT from Hill this year.  Great athlete and former Basketball player of the year in high school/Delaware then started at TE and then Tackle.  His feet and movement jumped out at you when you watched him in college.  

I was all in on Tackle because of the value of a starting Tackle in a league full of mediocre play and contracts for good ones second to QB's.  I think O'Neill is going to be an excellent RT and then move to LT where his feet and movement will make him an all-pro in a few years.  Yea, early but that's what predictions are...early guesses.