2016 Vikings Draft Class

Post #1 » by **Klomp** » Sun May 1, 2016 4:17 am

1.23: Laquan Treadwell [WR] Ole Miss
2.54: Mackensie Alexander [CB] Clemson
4.121: Willie Beaver [OL] Western Michigan
5.160: Kentrell Brothers [LB] Missouri
6.180: Moritz Boehringer [WR] Germany
6.188: David Morgan II [TE] Texas-San Antonio
7.227: Stephen Weatherly [DE] Vanderbilt
7.244: Jayron Kearse [S] Clemson

2017 3rd - Miami
2017 4th - Miami

The team will announce the list of UDFAs on Monday.

hermes · Post #2 » by **hermes** » Sun May 1, 2016 2:23 pm

so what do we think? good/bad/ok?

treadwell will be good for fitting a need right away, alexander sounds like a really good get from where we drafted him. we got depth at other expected places (d-line, o-line, lb). kind of surprised they waited until the seventh round to get a safety. also surprised we got a tight end. we'll see what the german wr can do, he's a big guy

having two more picks next year will be good. this almost feels like a draft where we fill a need or two and then just grab seemingly unappealing depth/project guys. guess that's the price we pay for having a pretty talented team already

Post #3 » by **Klomp** » Mon May 2, 2016 1:36 am

I'm a big fan of this draft.

Treadwell: instant starter
Alexander: great value; eventual Munnerlyn replacement
Beaver: concern is understandable, but fits traits Sparano looks for in OL
Brothers: the eventual third LB in base defense
Moehringer: upside
Morgan: insurance for Ellison
Weatherley: drafting a raw pass rusher worked well last year
Kearse: big safety Zimmer likes

T-wOlvEs 420 · Post #4 » by **T-wOlvEs 420** » Mon May 2, 2016 12:01 pm

I'm happy with the draft, I just wish we would have been more aggressive in the earlier rounds, finding a safety who can play next to Harrison Smith. I think in doing so it moves our defense from very good to elite, a championship defense. But I do trust Zimmer, and love Treadwell..

Post #5 » by **Worm Guts** » Mon May 2, 2016 12:21 pm

The first 2 picks seem great. I question the athletic ability of Brothers and Morgan. Brothers was hugely productive, but he's also a bad combination of small and slow. I don't know if he would have lasted another round, but he seems more like a 6th round pick.
Morgan is a skill position player who ran a 5+ 40, I don't know how many successful TE's run that slow. At some point you might as well just put another tackle out there.

hermes · Post #6 » by **hermes** » Mon May 2, 2016 10:47 pm

i was surprised at the lack of going for a safety early. they must be fairly satisfied with seeing what the options they have do

Devilzsidewalk · Post #7 » by **Devilzsidewalk** » Mon May 2, 2016 11:44 pm

Worm Guts wrote:The first 2 picks seem great. I question the athletic ability of Brothers and Morgan. Brothers was hugely productive, but he's also a bad combination of small and slow. I don't know if he would have lasted another round, but he seems more like a 6th round pick.
Morgan is a skill position player who ran a 5+ 40, I don't know how many successful TE's run that slow. At some point you might as well just put another tackle out there.

These PFF tidbits are optimistic:

Kearse:

Jayron Kearse is a player that PFF had a fourth-round grade on, and was actually the best-graded player in the Clemson secondary this past season. He had solid grades against both the run and pass and even featured on the blitz, posting the fourth-best pass rushing productivity among safeties in this class for his work on the blitz.

Brothers:

The Vikings take a player who had the fifth-highest linebacker grade in the entire nation and the fourth-highest in the draft class. He was only available at this spot because of a relatively pedestrian measurables profile — on the field he is a force, especially against the run, where he had the second-highest grade in the draft class.

Morgan:

Morgan was easily the highest-graded run blocking tight end in 2015, not only among the draft class, but in the entire nation. No. 2 tight ends don’t have a ton of value in today’s NFL, but he is an ideal one that can block and also contribute as a receiver. His 1.65 receiving yards per route run ranked seventh in the TE class.

They didn't like beaver much though - had him ranked last in pass blocking. That doesn't sound good.

Post #8 » by **Worm Guts** » Tue May 3, 2016 3:43 pm

I saw that Brothers ran a 4.73 at his Pro Day, as opposed to 4.89 at the combine. That makes me feel a lot better about him.

Post #9 » by **Klomp** » Tue May 3, 2016 6:19 pm

Worm Guts wrote:I saw that Brothers ran a 4.73 at his Pro Day, as opposed to 4.89 at the combine. That makes me feel a lot better about him.

Ahh, that makes more sense as to why you were so down on him

Devilzsidewalk · Post #10 » by **Devilzsidewalk** » Tue May 3, 2016 6:19 pm

I also was readring somewhere that the big time athlete LBs that go early - ie the eye-popping #s guys - have a really bad record for panning out in the NFL. I know we've had a couple of those with Dontarrious Thomas and Raonall Smith.

I think there's just a lot of quick-fire mental processing going on - have to figure out run or pass in the face of draws/play-action/tricky formations/receivers in motion, then immediately read the routes or hole to hit.