Vikings Draft Blunders

[JBoog35]

I am not one to judge a Front Office so soon, but it seems as if the Vikes draft out of panic...

2005: We take Williamson to replace Moss when there were ? marks about him and Mike Williams. Why take someone so high. We were not set at LB at that time either and Merriman was on the board, we needed a DE as well and there were several prospects available. So we took one with the number 18 pick. Also, the best one available but had huge injury ?'s. We took a potential pick again who probably would've fallen a lot farther. There was a ton of talent in the bottom half of that first round.

I can't argue with Marcus Johnson (2), but so far, career backup. Dustin Fox (3), not on the roster anymore and there were play makers on that board still in the 3rd. We needed a quick fix for safety backup spot. But a ton of talent left at that point. Can't complain about Fason (4) and Mosley (6) both were ACTUAL Value but aren't on the team anymore either.

2006: Let me start off by saying it's too early to tell with any of these players. But we finally take our LB in the first round in Greenway. Good pick to this point, but too early to tell. We had 3 picks in this second round. We drafted CB Cedric Griffin (2a) first who starts and is consitantly getting owned. We passed on QB Kellen Clemens and OT Marcus McNiell. Big mistake to pass on both of those two IMO. Both were taken and we got stuck with Ryan Cook (2b) 3 picks later who was a "REACH" as reported BY EVERYONE. So now we have the opportunity to take our QB of the future Tarvaris Jackson (2c). I am not sold on him yet, but QB's take time. I am saying that Kellen Clemons would've been a lot closer to starting, as well as McNiell. That round was FILLED with ALL STAR TALENT. We chose 3 players all who start who have done nothing. Ray Edwards (4) seemed to be a safe pick at the time. He is just like Erasmus in 2005, but we got him in the 4th. Supreme pass rush ability but issues drop him from late first to mid 2nd all the way to late 4th. Good IMO, no matter what happens, but shows how they screwed up in 05 with Erasmus.

2007: We all know it's too early. And this year seems to be a change. AP (1) is was a nice pick. They didn't overvalue and draft Quinn or Ginn Jr. They even moved down a few spots in the second to nab Sidney Rice (2) which was another smart move. McCauley, Robison, Alexander, and Thigpen were not reaches, and there was no desperation in their picks. This is a nice change because if you look at the past two drafts, we reached, over valued, and put our team in a terrible position for the future.

Let's hope this continues, although, I think we may see a repeat of 05' bcause our top needs are the same again...... thoughts?

[Worm Guts]

I like the Vikings 2006 draft. It's given us 5 starters, 3 on a quality defense. I doubt any other team had a draft with so many immediate contributors.
You criticize the Cook pick but not the Johnson pick, I think that's strange since Cook is starting ahead of Johnson.

[BiggMann]

we had a panic attack after we traded Moss, which is why Williamson is on the team. But even if it was Williamson it would've been Mike Williams, so you really cant complain too much. However if the front office would've realized that WR's are one of the easiest spots to fill they would've drafted need, i.e. LB/DE. and we'd currently have either Merriman or DeMarcus Ware wearing purple and gold

I dont see why we suck so bad at drafting, but this year is definitley a step in the right direction.

[$$D-Block$$]

we had a panic attack after we traded Moss, which is why Williamson is on the team. But even if it was Williamson it would've been Mike Williams, so you really cant complain too much. However if the front office would've realized that WR's are one of the easiest spots to fill they would've drafted need, i.e. LB/DE. and we'd currently have either Merriman or DeMarcus Ware wearing purple and gold

I dont see why we suck so bad at drafting, but this year is definitley a step in the right direction.

Actually, it isn't. As is evidence by the quality of receivers we have on our team right now. The only quality player we have at WR is Sidney Rice, who we drafted. The rest can be replaced. We really did need a receiver in 05 after Randy had left. But like you said, if it wasn't Williamson it would have been Mike Williams.

[JBoog35]

I like the Vikings 2006 draft. It's given us 5 starters, 3 on a quality defense. I doubt any other team had a draft with so many immediate contributors.
You criticize the Cook pick but not the Johnson pick, I think that's strange since Cook is starting ahead of Johnson.

Like I said, it's a little too soon to call this draft, but like I also said. Marcus Johnson "at the time" was a good pick, that draft didn't have a ton in it in the second round for value...the next year we take Cook, when there was a ton of value better than his in the second round. We took Griffin...not sure he should be starting right now, but that's for another day. We could've had McNiell who turned out to be a GREAT OT. We knew Cook was a "project" and a "reach". Why is he starting so soon???? Marcus McNiell yes, Cook, no. Marcus Johnson, no. Hind sight is 20/20, but there were some studs in that draft/round and we took 2 projects and both are starting. Griffin is not a project, but may be a bit soon to be starting.

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Actually, it isn't. As is evidence by the quality of receivers we have on our team right now. The only quality player we have at WR is Sidney Rice, who we drafted. The rest can be replaced. We really did need a receiver in 05 after Randy had left. But like you said, if it wasn't Williamson it would have been Mike Williams.

Like I said we panicked, and I would've wrote the same thing if we drafted Mike Williams. We could've had Merriman for crying out loud. Also, what has Sidney Rice done??? Nothing to this point. Not to say he is not going to be a good receiver, becuase I believe he will. If Rice is quality "this season" then so is Wade and Shiancoe.... The drafting of WR's is very hard in this league. Hit or Miss. Keyshawn Johnson to Marques Colston, etc. We should've been all over the Free Agent market in 06' Not doing what we did and what essentially the Dolphins did this year.

The whole point the talk was that we are in line to have that WR need again in this upcoming draft with a likely high pick. DeSean Jackson maybe? Who knows I get as excited as anyone about future WR's, but hopefully this offseason they splurge and try to sign a Vet we know can ball. We have other places to look at...Maybe a DT for when Pat retires, maybe a RG, RT.

[$$D-Block$$]

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Like I said we panicked, and I would've wrote the same thing if we drafted Mike Williams. We could've had Merriman for crying out loud. Also, what has Sidney Rice done??? Nothing to this point. Not to say he is not going to be a good receiver, becuase I believe he will. If Rice is quality "this season" then so is Wade and Shiancoe.... The drafting of WR's is very hard in this league. Hit or Miss. Keyshawn Johnson to Marques Colston, etc. We should've been all over the Free Agent market in 06' Not doing what we did and what essentially the Dolphins did this year.

The whole point the talk was that we are in line to have that WR need again in this upcoming draft with a likely high pick. DeSean Jackson maybe? Who knows I get as excited as anyone about future WR's, but hopefully this offseason they splurge and try to sign a Vet we know can ball. We have other places to look at...Maybe a DT for when Pat retires, maybe a RG, RT.

The thing is, we had to draft a WR. We still had Daunte in his prime, we were legitimate Superbowl contenders. Our WR at the time were Nate Burleson and Koren Robinson, both possesion receivers. We needed a deep threat to keep the defense honest the way Randy used to. Enter Troy Williamson. At the time I was pretty skeptical, but I listened to some people talk about Williamson and his blazing speed, and I figured why not? Clearly he hasn't turned out the way we expected but you cannot blame the front office for that. And saying that we could have had Merriman doesn't mean anything. Looking back at any draft there are always players we could have drafted instead.

Look at all of the teams with good receiving cores. The Colts, the Bengals, the Cards, ets. All of these teams drafted their WR's. That is the best way to develop a good receiving group. Just cause we haven't been as successful, doesn't mean we should go on a spending spree for older free agent WR's. If you want to criticize bad draft picks, look no further than drafting Ryan Cook in the second, with the draft pick we got for Daunte. I still shake my head just thinking about it. RG wasn't one of our biggest needs, and we clearly reached. But this years draft definitely corrected the mistakes of the past.

[Worm Guts]

Ryan Cook is a RT, and that was a need. If he's not that good but he's starting, then it was probably a pretty big need.

[$$D-Block$$]

Ryan Cook came out of college a C. We converted him to RT, and clearly he still isn't comfortable since he leads the O-line in penalties. If the team didn't trust Marcus Johnson as our RT, we should have targeted a RT, not a C.

[revprodeji]

(i worked on this for another site I work with)


This year the Vikings have a great draft class.

Adrian Peterson in the first
Sidney Rice in the second
Marcus McCauley in the 3rd
Brian Robison in the 4th
Aundrae Allison in the 5th
Rufus Alexander in the 6th
Tyler thigpin in the 7th

In AD we have a star player. He will be an icon for the team for many years. In Rice we have a big WR that will be a 1 or 2 as well as an end zone target. Marcus McCauley was one of the highest rated CB's before the draft, is a big body who has been an amazing upgrade over Whiticker at the Nickel and might end up starting. Robison brings and energy and pass-rush we have been missing. Aundrae Allison has great speed and hands. Rufus would have been great depth if not for an injury, and Tyler Thigpin was good enough to earn a active roster spot in the league. Which is rare for a 7th rd pick.

Teams develop their skill on the draft. Your team is made up with the depth you find in the middle rounds, and the identity of the team is based on the stars you take in the first couple rounds. A common fact is that the Colts only have players drafted on their team right now. Nobody on their roster is from free agency. If I am wrong, not my fault I have heard it from 3 sources) So that shows that a good draft can lead to solid success in the modern NFL. What is scary is that you can make an easy argument that the Vikings since 2001 have had the least amount of production from their first day draft picks than any team in the league. You could make the argument that our draft productivity is average at best before that time, But being that the players drafted in 2001 would be 6-7 year vets and the core of our team, I will make the argument from there.

So who did we pick? Better yet, what would our team look like if we took the colts mentality and had quality drafts and built our team from there? I know it is cheap to look back and second guess, but what else do we have to do? For the sake of space I will only do the first-day picks.

In 2000 we went 11-5, we started 11-2, but lost the last 3. We beat the saints in the playoffs before the infamous 41-0 scandal of the Giants. The day after Robert Smith Retired.

In 2001 we have
Michael Bennett, RB in the 1st
Willie Howard, DT in the 2nd
Eric Kelly, CB in the 3rd
Shawn Worthen, DT and Cedric James, WR in the 4th
Patrick Chukwurah, LB in the 5th
Carey Scott, CB in the 6th
Brian Crawford, T in the 7th

The first thing needs to be said. It would be easy to poke fun at the Michael Bennett pick. But we need to remember that this is right after Smith retired. We needed a runningback. Also, Bennett was ranked as the 3rd highest prospect in the draft that year. (hutch was 4th) the kid was consider a no-brainer. As a matter of fact, according to NFLDC Bennett as the 3rd ranked prospect was ahead of runningbacks LaMont Jordan (10) L.Tomlinson (11) Deuce McCallister (12) and Travis Henry (46) the kid was a no-brainer. Perfect situation of need and talent. But why did he fall to the mid-20's? Teams were scared of his small frame and the fact that he was a track star playing football. That scared a lot of teams. What were our options if it scared us? At the 27th pick we have

Reggie Wayne, WR (30)---------Star Receiver for the Colts
Todd Heap, TE (31)----------------A top-10 TE
Drew Brees, QB (32)-------------One of the top 10 Qb's in the league. A big 10 kid. No excuse
Kyle vandenBosch, DE (34) ---Very good DE
Alge Crumpler, TE (35)----------Top-10 TE
Chad Johnson, WR (36)--------Top 3 WR
Ken lucas, CB, (40)--------------Quality shut down Corner
Kris Jenkins, DT (44)-------------One of the best DT's

I am sure we would have had better productivity from these guys than from Bennett, and many of them fill a need we had at that time.

We understand the logic of the Bennett pick. But what about DE Willie Howard in the 2nd? Did he do anything for us? No. Who was available?

Travis Henry, RB (58)-----Starting RB who is has had some nice seasons
Andre Dyson, CB (60)----Quality CB
Shaun Rogers, DT (61)---One of the best DT's
Adrian Wilson, SS (64)---The most underrated SS in the league

In the 3rd round we grabbed a corner, Eric Kelly. Who again did nothing for us. Who was available?

Steve Smith, WR (74)-----one of the best WR today
Will Peterson, CB, (78)----decent starting CB
Dwight Smith, FS, (84)---Our current FS, very good player
Rudi Johnson, RB (100)---A very good RB for the Bengals
TJ Houshmandzadeh, WR (204-yea, a 7th rd pick)---very good WR for Bengels

So we got a Rb, Defensive line man, and a Corner. Later in the draft we go for WR and DT. What kind of Mock could we have done? We could have a Rb in the 3rd with Rudi, so in the 1st we can go for a star QB or WR or TE? Maybe we grab Jenkins?


In the 2002 draft we have
Bryant McKinnie, T in the 1st
Raonall Smith in the 2nd
Willie Offord in the 3rd
Brian Williams in the 4th
Ed Ta'amu in the 4th
Nick Rogers in the 6th
Chad Beasley in the 7th

Mckinne was 7th overall in a deep draft. He was incredible at Miami, but people seriously questioned his heart. Which we see now makes sense. Needless to say, he has not been the value you look for at the top of the first round. Who was available then?

Roy Williams, FS (8)---a great hard hitting safety.
Levi Jones, T (10)------a pro-bowl tackle
Dwight Freeny, DE (11)--Colts again, one of the best speed rushers.
Jeremy Shockey, TE (14)--talented playmaking TE
Javon Walker, WR, (20)----starting WR, has had some great years
Daniel Graham, TE, (21)---one of the best all-around TE's in the game
Ed Reed, S,(24)-----From the same team as Mt. Mckinne, no excuse not to grab this great safety
Lito Sheppard, CB (26)---a premier CB

In the early second round we grab Raonall Smith, a LB. Who did nothing for us. Who was there?

LeCharles Bentley, C (44)---one of the better interior lineman today
Clinton Portis, RB (51)------a good starting Rb
Sheldon Brown, CB (59)---one of the reasons the eagle have such a great pass defense
Antwaan Randle El, WR (62)---super bowl hero is a great offensive player
Deion Branch, WR, (65)---another superbowl hero, traded for a 1st shows his value

In the 3rd round we took Willie Offord, a Safety, he stuck as depth and is no longer in the league. Here is what was there

Ben Leber,LB (71)---he is our guy, good starting LB
Will Witherspoon, LB (73)--very good linebacker, a big Free agency target 2 years ago
Brian Westbrook, RB (91)--one of the better Rb's in the league
Aaron Kampman, DE (156-rd 5)--One of the better DE's around, we tried to get him in FA a few years ago
Adrian Peterson, RB (199-rd 6)--not our AD, but a very good RB for the bears
Chester Taylor, RB (207-rd 6)--our starting running back
Ronald Curry, WR, (235-7th rd)-starting WR for Raiders

So we got an offensive lineman, a Linebacker and a safety.

2003 is our "Even a blind squirrel finds a stud DT" year. We actually draft very well on the first day. Ironic that it was the year the Vikings got skipped.

In the 2003 draft
We have Kevin Williams in the first,
EJ Henderson in the 2nd and
Nate Burlanson in the 3rd
Onterrio Smith in the 4th
Eddie Johnson and Mike Nattiel in the 6th
Kennan Howry in the 7th

Kevin Williams is a great player, looking back the only player you could make a case for is Troy Polamalu, SS (16) but I would still rather have Williams. Henderson appeared to be a bust, or a player of less value until last year. Now he is playing like the early 2nd rd player he is. Nate Burlanson had a great run with us before leaving for Seattle. These guys were all value picks and they filled a need. How did we draft great one year and forget the other years? As good as the first day was, the second day was a bust. Onterrio Smith had a ton of talent, but teams passed on him due to his character issues. Apparently we did not get the memo. With his pick we could have had

Terrence McGee, CB (111)-pro bowl CB
Asante Samuel, CB (120)-one of the top CB's in the league
Justin Griffin, FB, (121) he is a good enough FB for me to mention.
Hanik Milligan, S (188-rd 6)--injury ended career, but a pro-bowl guy just from special teams play
Cato June, LB (198-rd6)--a very good linebacker that the colts developed from practice squad to pro-bowl


2004 we have K.Udeze in the first
Dontarrious Thomas in the second
Darron Scott in the third
In the 4th we get Nat Dorsey and Mewelde Moore
In the 5th we get Rod Davis
In the 6th we get Deandre Eiland
In the 7th We have Jeff Dugan

I was beyond excited for Udeze. I was not worried about the injury and I loved his motor. To be fair he is coming off a nasty knee injury, but he has not been a value pick as a mid-1st rd player. He is a good starter, but has not given us what we needed. The players available were

Vince Wilfork, DT (21)---a big part of the NE defense
Steven Jackson, RB (24)---top 5 skill player before his injury this year
Bob Sander, SS (44)------MVP of colts defense

In the second we took Linebacker Dontarrious Thomas who has just not done anything for us. Who should we have grabbed?

Nick Hardwick, C, (66)---one of the top-5 centers in the league.
Nate kaeding, k, (65)--pro bowl kicker
Chris Cooley, TE, (81)---very good pass catching TE

In the third we grabbed Darrion Scott, a DE. He led our team in sacks with 6 last year. Not a starter on even this team

Matt Schaub, QB, (90)---Turned around the texans and would look great here
Nate Vasher, CB (110)---pro-bowl CB for the Bears

Rd 4 we get MeMo and Nat Dorsey. MeMo is a good piece, but not Nat.
With his pick we could have had
Jared Allen, DE (126)---he is the guy that killed McKinne in the Chiefs game

2005 we have Troy Williamson and Erasmus James in the first
In the second round we get Marcus Johnson
In the third round we get Dustin Fox
In the 4th we get Ciatrick Fason
In the 6th we get CJ Mosley
In the 7th we get Adrian Ward

Right after we trade Moss we grab for need rather than talent. Don

[Worm Guts]

Great post rev.
I need to point that Eslinger was cut by the Broncos and currently out of the league. He would not have been a good draft pick.

[revprodeji]

isnt the same with Blue and Fason? Notice I said I like Blue's talent but if we are going to just get a guy and cut him in a year or so I want a position that we could develop and use.
Scary how lil we have got from the draft eh?

[Worm Guts]

I don't think Fason or Blue are that good either. The 2001 and 2005 drafts are scary bad. The 2006 and 2007 drafts look promising. We've 5 starters from the 2006 draft, but none have been overly impressive. 2-3 of those guys have to step up for it to be considered a good draft. Almost the same thing with this draft, Peterson is a stud, that's a given but we need a couple of other guys to step up before it's considered a good draft.

[$$D-Block$$]

Fantastic right up, that clearly took a lot of work.

Only thing I can say though is almost every team can look back and say they could have drafted someone better. But knowing that we could have had even some of those guys is really upsetting. At least our scouting department is now a lot better.

[revprodeji]

I agree every team can look back, but the fact is from 2001-2005 we have had the least amount of production from our drafts. Using the same positions even we just literally pick the wrong guy.

2001 we go RB/DE/CB with that combo of need we could have

Ken Lucas-CB
VandenBosch-DE
Kris Jenkins-DT
Travis Henry-RB
Andre Dyson-CB
Shaun Rogers-DT
Will Peterson-CB
Rudi Johnson-RB

But we picked Bennett, Will Howard and Eric Kelly. Thats horrible.

2002 we go Oline/LB/safety

The safeties?
Roy Williams
Ed Reed

oline?
Levi Jones
Lecharles Bentley

LB
Ben Leber
Will Witherspoon

The D-line talent in the mid-late round of that draft was nuts. We get MT Tin Man, and 2 guys that never start

And 2005? When we have holes everywhere in arguably one of the deepest drafts? We get Jack. Literally Jack

It isnt the fluke of turning around and saying once or twice we should have got this guy. In the positions at which we were drafting we messed up almost everytime. And not just grabbing a guy who isnt a stud but is solid (udeze) but grabbing guys that are not even in the league.

[revprodeji]

oh, one more point. A big concern for me is we tend to ignore red-flags. I know we gambled with Moss and it paid off, but Bennett, McKinnie, James, Udeze, Williamson all had red flags of some kind.

[Worm Guts]

Everyone has negatives, Adrian Peterson had red flag sticking out of his collarbone and Greenway was considered poor at taking on blocks. Out of the guys you listed only Williamson could be considered a reach.
The Vikings have had a poor drafting record over the past several but lets not pretend that everyone knew that these guys would be busts at the time. Several publications gave the Vikings high grades for their 2005 draft.

[JBoog35]

Nice post Rev. That was my point exactly, thanks for spellin out what I was getting at. Our FO is bad, like Matt Millen bad, ok not that bad. Honestly though, everyone loves the AP pick and I know I catch a lot of flack for it, but I think that if we could've traded up to get Calvin Johnson this team would be better "in the future". I know AP has been key because of Chester's injury, but I have a strong feeling that Calvin is going to be a top 3 receiver in a few years...AP is going to be good, but I don't see him being healthy and I can't see him taking over as a top 3 back. One name to remember this coming draft... Linus Sweed out of Texas. Big kid, big play receiver, hurt and out for the year...could get him late and he could be the next Colston/Houshamazilla...put him on the board.

[Worm Guts]

Nice post Rev. That was my point exactly, thanks for spellin out what I was getting at. Our FO is bad, like Matt Millen bad, ok not that bad. Honestly though, everyone loves the AP pick and I know I catch a lot of flack for it, but I think that if we could've traded up to get Calvin Johnson this team would be better "in the future". I know AP has been key because of Chester's injury, but I have a strong feeling that Calvin is going to be a top 3 receiver in a few years...AP is going to be good, but I don't see him being healthy and I can't see him taking over as a top 3 back. One name to remember this coming draft... Linus Sweed out of Texas. Big kid, big play receiver, hurt and out for the year...could get him late and he could be the next Colston/Houshamazilla...put him on the board.

I think you're badly mistaken. Adrian Peterson might be a top 3 back right now.

[JBoog35]

I think that's a bit much, the man has been good, but let's not make him the best back in the league quite yet. My point is, we had a 1,000 yard back, what we do not have is a highlight receiver... I love AP by the way, I think he'll be the best back since Robert Smith... I just really wanted CJ.

[Worm Guts]

CJ would be a better fit but it costs a lot to move up that high in the draft. Would you rather have CJ or Adrian Peterson and Sydney Rice? Because it would have at least cost us our 2nd round pick and probably more.
According to the the chart teams use to value draft picks, to move up from 7 to 2 you need to throw in another mid first round pick.
http://www.sportznutz.com/nfl/draft/dra ... _chart.htm