Draft Weekend Thoughts
Just a few thoughts on the draft;
Banks was a reach, but it's not often you reach and could legitimately have picked the best defensive player in the draft. Physical tools off the charts. You just hope he kicks the injury bug and can stay healthy going forward. Usually feet problems with large people don't go away. Defensive line was our biggest need heading into the draft and we took a big swing in addressing it. On paper, Orange on the nose flanked by Banks and Redmond looks pretty damn good. We'll see how it actually plays out.
I thought there were better players on the board when they took Golday, but linebacker was a need. Big and versatile. Have no idea where they are going to play him but can move him around. Likely will be a special teams guy initially who gives us injury insurance for the annual Cashman injured reserve tour
I liked the Orange pick, but outside of that, it was a really "meh" draft for me. Not sure why we took the short armed tackle so early, or the fullback when we've shown no commitment to running the football in four years. I went into this draft knowing it wasn't particularly talented or deep, but there were definately some "huh" picks by the Vikings.
Really surprised we went so heavy on defense. O'Connell is really putting all his eggs into the Kyler Murray basket to generate plays for an offense that ranked 28th last year. We'll see if that ends up being a wise decision.
Initially thought the Greenard comp was low, but getting the additional 3rd next year in a deeper draft is appealing. Just happy they were able to get a decent return and can turn that position over to Turner full time now.
The Wilfs need to stop f'n around and bring in a real GM with relevant football experience for what the position requires. No more trying to reinvent the wheel. You are some of the worst owners in football in terms of playoff success in the last 20 years. Start making better decisions and that starts with who you hire to run the ship while you nap in Jersey. This organization, fans, and the state deserve better.
Is it September yet?
medaille wrote:
I think it looks like the Vikings had highly targeted weird players that are strong scheme fits. If you try and compare our draft to where most big boards have everyone, it looks like we were reaching for needs and I’m sure we’ll be graded harshly over this. I just think that Flores’s scheme is filled with niche enough positional needs that a lot of more traditional guys might not offer him the flexibility he needs, so our big board maybe has only one player that can reasonably fill the role, and rather than trade down a bunch, we just took them at our draft spot. It certainly looks like we had a list of needs that we were trying to fill and went out and got those guys even if the value wasn’t exceptional.
Agreed. Knowing we don't have a GM, I think the bar for this draft was, "Get some good players". Getting good players AND good value would have been nice and as fans I suppose we should "demand" that, but in 2026 for this team it wasn't realistic.
Seems like the team ID'd players they wanted to draft and made peace with maybe not getting 'maximum value' with their picks.
To me the biggest surprise is the Fullback. CJ Ham has been used sparingly for KO's entire time here and I figured they'd let him age out and then not fill the position, to put things in corporate speak. Not what happened at all and apparently the Vikings will be one of the teams still championing the Fullback in 2026. Very interested to see how and how much our new FB gets used.
I also think the team drafted almost entirely for "need" this year. Again, not surprising knowing the roster and front office dynamics. Also, most teams do this on most picks most years. BPA is the most overused term in the draft space in my opinion.
Last thought- It's always funny to read fans reactions to the draft. If we get good grades we're going to the super bowl and if we get bad grades no one knows anything and it's too early to say.
Well guys, no one knows anything about the players we got, and it's too early to say how they'll do! 😛
pattersaur wrote:
Agreed. Knowing we don't have a GM, I think the bar for this draft was, "Get some good players". Getting good players AND good value would have been nice and as fans I suppose we should "demand" that, but in 2026 for this team it wasn't realistic.
Seems like the team ID'd players they wanted to draft and made peace with maybe not getting 'maximum value' with their picks.
To me the biggest surprise is the Fullback. CJ Ham has been used sparingly for KO's entire time here and I figured they'd let him age out and then not fill the position, to put things in corporate speak. Not what happened at all and apparently the Vikings will be one of the teams still championing the Fullback in 2026. Very interested to see how and how much our new FB gets used.
I also think the team drafted almost entirely for "need" this year. Again, not surprising knowing the roster and front office dynamics. Also, most teams do this on most picks most years. BPA is the most overused term in the draft space in my opinion.
Last thought- It's always funny to read fans reactions to the draft. If we get good grades we're going to the super bowl and if we get bad grades no one knows anything and it's too early to say.
Well guys, no one knows anything about the players we got, and it's too early to say how they'll do! 😛
Only thing I'll say to that pattersaur is "value" to us fans is what the draft media thinks of their evaluations of these guys. The better ones watch some film (not nearly as much as NFL teams and scouts) and stack their rankings, but then they move these guys around based on what they are hearing from NFL teams (and none of them are giving the truth leading up to the draft) and dropping guys with injuries and here we are. Perceived value, reaches, etc with no legit info on how NFL teams have these guys ranked.
The draft media also doesn't look at player and scheme fits for each team. It's why you see some players get drafted earlier by one team and not a better "rated" prospect. The older I get the less I care what Kiper and others say about the draft and team selections. They go on and on about this guy and that guy and some become stars and others are flat out busts. But you never hear them circling back and saying I was wrong about this guy being a reach or a great value or I completely missed on this guy...
Its fun fodder for us fans to discuss, but doesn't mean much. We just need to hope 2-3 of these guys are starters 3 years from now and it will have been a fantastic draft.
pattersaur wrote:
I also think the team drafted almost entirely for "need" this year. Again, not surprising knowing the roster and front office dynamics.
The team needed a center, safety and RB.....the highest any of those was taken was 98th overall and then a LONG way down for the others. When your team has a lot of 'needs', BPA and need will collide.
Here's the bottom line: when some fans are still burnt over no Jim Harbaugh, the hiring of KAM and the progressiveness of the Wilfs, nothing will satisfy.
StickierBuns wrote:
Here's the bottom line: when some fans are still burnt over no Jim Harbaugh, the hiring of KAM and the progressiveness of the Wilfs, nothing will satisfy.
Here's the other bottom line, no matter how incompetent this organization has been over the course of the Wilf tenure, some fans will forever wax poetic and fluff every move made. We could literally bring back Brad Childress and there'd be people on this board touting it as a "great move." Nature of the beast..
supafreak84 wrote:
Here's the other bottom line, no matter how incompetent this organization has been over the course of the Wilf tenure, some fans will forever wax poetic and fluff every move made. We could literally bring back Brad Childress and there'd be people on this board touting it as a "great move." Nature of the beast..
Yeah, I know: constant criticism ad nauseam is 'insight' and being 'unbiased'. Plenty of old, scarred up fans hang their hats there. And so it is....
StickierBuns wrote:
Yeah, I know: constant criticism ad nauseam is 'insight' and being 'unbiased'. Plenty of old, scarred up fans hang their hats there. And so it is....
There's two sides to every coin and it's a message board. Brace yourself when justified criticism is presented. If you love the direction of this team and the complete lack of playoff success under Wilf ownership, more power to you. Oh, and who was right about Kwesi...you or me? Exactly
supafreak84 wrote:
There's two sides to every coin and it's a message board. Brace yourself when justified criticism is presented. If you love the direction of this team and the complete lack of playoff success under Wilf ownership, more power to you
No need to brace, its here everyday. If you love to bitch and complain, every thread, more power to you. The Ying to the Yang.
lol, yep you got KAM right.....I see you edited and put it in. But I was never fluffing him, I just wanted a larger sample. And unfortunately I did. Gotta love the 'I was right' crowd. Its really the only thing some care about. I also remember how little you were on the board in 2024 and 14 wins....but amazingly showed up after the playoff loss. Cool.
StickierBuns wrote:
No need to brace, its here everyday. If you love to bitch and complain, every thread, more power to you. The Ying to the Yang.
Who's bitching and complaining? I give a fair assessment on the draft, but anything not waxing poetic about how great everything is seems to hurt your feelings so you come slinging mud lol.
supafreak84 wrote:
Who's bitching and complaining? I give a fair assessment on the draft, but anything not waxing poetic about how great everything is seems to hurt your feelings so you come slinging mud lol.
All I said is the Draft can't be judged yet....
StickierBuns wrote:
All I said is the Draft can't be judged yet....
Oh come on, you added a little more than that...directed at me lol. If you want to sling it, I've got no problem slinging it back.
Moving on...
supafreak84 wrote:
Oh come on, you added a little more than that...directed at me lol. If you want to sling it, I've got no problem slinging it back.
Moving on...
I think thats a good idea.
StickierBuns wrote:
The team needed a center, safety and RB.....the highest any of those was taken was 98th overall and then a LONG way down for the others. When your team has a lot of 'needs', BPA and need will collide.
Here's the bottom line: when some fans are still burnt over no Jim Harbaugh, the hiring of KAM and the progressiveness of the Wilfs, nothing will satisfy.
We had a lot of needs going into the draft. More than we could fill realistically in the draft, so some of that wasn’t going to happen. I think, perhaps the difference has been, that in the past we would have filled holes with passable but low cost starters, prior to the draft to let us draft more BPA. This year, it seems like we skipped that, and I assume we’ll probably be filling a lot of holes post draft (probably post June 1st).
medaille wrote:
We had a lot of needs going into the draft. More than we could fill realistically in the draft, so some of that wasn’t going to happen.
Drafting and last years FA left them incredibly exposed at DL. Full on red alert/fire.
I fully expected at least 2 to be drafted which is what happened fortunately.
Hopefully the young guys stay healthy and arent overwhelmed yr1.
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
StickierBuns wrote:
The team needed a center, safety and RB.....the highest any of those was taken was 98th overall and then a LONG way down for the others. When your team has a lot of 'needs', BPA and need will collide.
Here's the bottom line: when some fans are still burnt over no Jim Harbaugh, the hiring of KAM and the progressiveness of the Wilfs, nothing will satisfy.
Based on the way the draft played out, I honestly think the team decided to give Brandel his shot at center. He graded out middle of the pack for Centers last year so hopefully can grow from there. The OT pick sounds more like a Let/Right/Tackle / Guard swing guy...Brandel's old spot. Unfortunately, the time to pick up a Center for value was in the 4th round when we had no picks. I think the team decided to pivot and backfill Brandel's swing spot with Rouse also in the mix at Tackle
Kmerry82 wrote:
I think thats a good idea.
Moving on! 👍
I booked a room for @StickierBuns and @supafreak84 so you guys can hug it out. Granted it's only a Motel 6 but hey, that's what friends are for! 😃
I felt better about this draft than any of the Kwesi drafts which mostly left me a bit... kueasy. Sorry, queasy. But we'll see how it goes over time.
One thing I will say - if RAS scores somehow translate into NFL success, this was possibly the greatest draft in the history of drafts. 😍
comet52 wrote:
I booked a room for @StickierBuns and @supafreak84 so you guys can hug it out. Granted it's only a Motel 6 but hey, that's what friends are for! 😃
I felt better about this draft than any of the Kwesi drafts which mostly left me a bit... kueasy. Sorry, queasy. But we'll see how it goes over time.
One thing I will say - if RAS scores somehow translate into NFL success, this was possibly the greatest draft in the history of drafts. 😍
Supa's a good dude, just wants the Vikes to win like we all do. Need to keep the dirt naps at bay until then!
Two doubles or just a King bed booked?
comet52 wrote:
I booked a room for @StickierBuns and @supafreak84 so you guys can hug it out. Granted it's only a Motel 6 but hey, that's what friends are for! 😃
I felt better about this draft than any of the Kwesi drafts which mostly left me a bit... kueasy. Sorry, queasy. But we'll see how it goes over time.
One thing I will say - if RAS scores somehow translate into NFL success, this was possibly the greatest draft in the history of drafts. 😍
The Motel 6? We have that kind of budget for one of those fancy chain motels? I was thinking more along the lines of the Viking Motel in Montevideo...home of the $50 room rates. Sorry guys..no rooms with 2 Double Beds. You're going to have to bunk together.
StickierBuns wrote:
The team needed a center, safety and RB.....the highest any of those was taken was 98th overall and then a LONG way down for the others. When your team has a lot of 'needs', BPA and need will collide.
Here's the bottom line: when some fans are still burnt over no Jim Harbaugh, the hiring of KAM and the progressiveness of the Wilfs, nothing will satisfy.
There are fans still burnt over Jim Harbaugh? Pls say sike
pattersaur wrote:
There are fans still burnt over Jim Harbaugh? Pls say sike
Just one....but I'm moving on! 😎
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