With the first round pick the Vikings take

[PurpleKoolaid]

[quote="PurpleKoolaid]

He had 1 issue supposedly coke. Who the heck hasnt tried it in college? I loved it. Havent touched it or even weed since. You know PH had character issues too right? Want me to name a few hundred others? What round was Brady picked in?

His issues wet more than the drugs, he was known also a kid with questionable maturity and leadership skills. Similar to jimmy clausen. In fact there were many parellels between the two players coming out. Not to mention mallet came from a very qb friendly system[/quote][/quote]
No idea what you are mentioning here. Some mentions of immaturity, maybe not NFL ready. But Ponder was. And thats a joke. Whats bad about a QB coming from a QB friendly system? You'd rather he come from an option one?

[saint33]

His issues wet more than the drugs, he was known also a kid with questionable maturity and leadership skills. Similar to jimmy clausen. In fact there were many parellels between the two players coming out. Not to mention mallet came from a very qb friendly system

[/quote]
No idea what you are mentioning here. Some mentions of immaturity, maybe not NFL ready. But Ponder was. And thats a joke. Whats bad about a QB coming from a QB friendly system? You'd rather he come from an option one?[/quote][/quote][/quote]

What don't you get? He was known as immature, arrogant and quite frankly, a d-bag. Not the kind of person you look for to be the leader of your team of men.

As for the qb friendly system, by that I mean a system that had a tendency to inflate a Qbs stats. Petrino has a knack for making below average players look good (see Stefan lefors, Brian brohm). And just like before, mallet leaves, and Arkansas doesn't miss a beat with Tyler wilson. Kind of like the string of USC Qbs under Pete Carroll who have not lived up to their expectations in the nfl

[smoothoperator]

mallett has proved nothing and will have years to rest behind brady, if he was thrown into the fire immediately im betting he would be awful

[mondry]

Absolutely and I was disappointed from the first snap, when Musgrave called a play that used an empty backfield formation. I hate those formations because they just tell the defense to pin their ears back and get after the QB. Why Musgrave would open a game with that play in Chicago is beyond me, especially with AD on the rsoter. I wasn't even a little surprised that it ended in a sack, sabotaging the Vikes first possession from the start.

You said it! That boggled my mind too. For better or for worse this team has to go through adrian peterson. 43 passes to 18 carries for AD is a recipe for disaster with this current roster. Crazy thing is Peterson still got 108 yards rushing and 6 ypc. The offense simply isn't good enough to also overcome calls like that from Musgrave.

[VikingLord]

You said it! That boggled my mind too. For better or for worse this team has to go through adrian peterson. 43 passes to 18 carries for AD is a recipe for disaster with this current roster. Crazy thing is Peterson still got 108 yards rushing and 6 ypc. The offense simply isn't good enough to also overcome calls like that from Musgrave.

Vikes had what, 3 3rd down conversions in the 1st half and ceded a 2-1 TOP advantage to the Bears? Maybe they would have been better had they run more, but you can't run if you can't sustain drives, and you can't run if you get way behind (like down by 22 away at the half).

The cruel result of the above is that it literally forces the team to play to it's utter weaknesses, which is basically Ponder and the passing game.

The focus on the coaches is perplexing because from where I sit the biggest reason the Vikes are struggling when they struggle is the passing game or lack thereof. If the problem was a pie, that would be 90% of it, and that includes the defensive struggles. No NFL defense can spend that much time on the field and expect to consistently get off it.

If I were Musgrave I'd run 70-80% of the time to start a game and hope the offense can churn out 1st downs. But if they do that they are implicitly telling Ponder they don't trust him and they won't see enough from him to make a decision as to whether he's the answer at QB. The coaches are in a darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don't situation, and it's one of their own making as they failed to find any viable alternative approach prior to the season. The *really* cruel part of this is that all of their eggs are literally in the Ponder basket. Admitting failure with Ponder essentially puts them back at the drawing board at QB during the offseason. Webb is not the answer (shouldn't even be a QB if you ask me), and MBT is way too raw to even be considered as an option to start next year. So at this point it's either Ponder or bust.

Spielman could really impress me by going out and finding a viable veteran option at QB this offseason regardless of what they plan to do with Ponder. And then Frazier could impress me by stating clearly that the job goes to the best guy.

[CalVike]

You said it! That boggled my mind too. For better or for worse this team has to go through adrian peterson. 43 passes to 18 carries for AD is a recipe for disaster with this current roster. Crazy thing is Peterson still got 108 yards rushing and 6 ypc. The offense simply isn't good enough to also overcome calls like that from Musgrave.

Widely reported in Twitterverse pre-game that AD missed the team buses, took a cab, and was late to Soldier Field. Absence may have been punitive. Not sure at all though, pure speculation.

[VikingLord]

Unless they open the pocket book and go after a true KNOWN tier #1 quality WR (depending on who might be available) I would advocate that they stay away from free agency all together. The past practice of overpaying for tier 2 and tier 3 W/R's and T/E's in FA has to stop

We dont need another B.Berrian or J. Simpson and we sure as hell dont need another Shianko or Carlson.

As for the draft, if the player they want is gone when their turn comes up then trade down for additional picks and continue the rebuilding process thru the draft.

That's what I'm saying - if WR is your biggest need then go out and do it right and pay what you need to get the known quantity in FA. No more half-arsing it and hoping for a guy to out-perform his historical trend.

I guess my point is, the draft is about the future. To do drafts right requires looking at players in terms of what the team's needs will be in 3-4 years, not the following year. If a team is drafting to fill immediate needs, the team has failed in prior drafts or had bad luck with draft picks. But when teams do it right they're bringing in guys who can sit, learn from vets, and be ready to contribute when their names are called. Ideally, if that is done right, then landing the big FA at a key position is just topping the team off for a run at a title.

[CalVike]

http://m.twincities.com/twincities/db_3 ... d=EoPQCagl

"I'm really not going to discuss that," Peterson said after the 28-10 loss to the Bears. "Me and Coach actually haven't had an opportunity to talk about it. It wasn't a big deal. I came out and played. Most important is: What can you do to come back and get on track? That's what got me focused."

Leslie Frazier said in his postgame news conference that he had yet to talk to Peterson about the incident but also said he gave no consideration to any sort of in-game punishment, such as sitting him out the first series.

My speculation above was inaccurate.

[Infinity]

WR. We have one of the worst receiving cores in the NFL. With Percy getting injured all the time, we're going to need a couple decent backups to fill in for him. One of the reasons ponder is doing bad is because of the receiving core. I think we could see noticeable improvement from ponder if we get better receivers

[S197]

I keep hearing WR but not any names. Curious as to who specifically everyone likes. I personally don't see any AJ Green's or Julio Jones' in this draft, which might not be a bad thing because the Vikings won't be drafting in the top 5 this year.

[S197]

Keenan Allen, Justin Hunter and Robert Woods are the top 3. All are projected mid-late 1st. But all 3 are also underclassmen who might not even declare, although odds are at least 2 of them do.

I know the names, if you look towards the top of the page I listed a few of them, I'm just curious as to who the posters like out of the group. Right now it just seems like everyone is saying "lets go WR" because it's a need and not because there's a good amount of talent or depth there. As you mention, there are a lot of underclassmen as well and my fear is teams might overpay for receivers this year due to the limited number of players.

Allen has good size and speed but his knee injury is of concern. Sometimes stuff like that works in your favor on draft day (i.e. Peterson) but it's still something to factor in.

[Texas Vike]

I know the names, if you look towards the top of the page I listed a few of them, I'm just curious as to who the posters like out of the group. Right now it just seems like everyone is saying "lets go WR" because it's a need and not because there's a good amount of talent or depth there. As you mention, there are a lot of underclassmen as well and my fear is teams might overpay for receivers this year due to the limited number of players.

Allen has good size and speed but his knee injury is of concern. Sometimes stuff like that works in your favor on draft day (i.e. Peterson) but it's still something to factor in.

I don't really watch enough college ball to say I like a certain WR, but I have seen Woods play. He didn't really stand out to me, honestly. In fact, his teammate (Marquis Lee? too lazy to search) has always outshone him every time I watch USC.

I watch Big 12 games from time to time. Terrance Williams from Baylor is a solid prospect that we could pick up in rd. 2 most likely. A lot of folks criticize WRs from the Big 12 since the conference is not known for solid defense (like the SEC), but plenty of NFL talent has come from here.

[Purple bruise]

]
KOOLAID QUOTE:
"He had 1 issue supposedly coke. Who the heck hasnt tried it in college? I loved it. Havent touched it or even weed since. You know PH had character issues too right? Want me to name a few hundred others? What round was Brady picked in"?

So you were an admitted coke user and you say that you LOVED it That being said, you want to draft a "pocket passer" for this team Ponder seldom has 2 seconds to get the ball and try to stay in the pocket, problem is is that there hardly ever is a pocket. When Webb has gotten a chance to play he has been some what succesful but that is because he is running for his life because THERE IS NO POCKET and he is extemely mobile and shifty
Your pocket passer would be destroyed

[saint33]

Would we have the room to re-sign harvin and one of the big names? I'd rather draft a couple to be honest. Spend the cash on Rivers lol

I believe we have one of the highest cap spaces in the league. This is a good FA class and a bad draft class for WRs, I'd rather go with the sure thing and still take a couple WRs in the draft then put all our eggs into draft picks from a weak class. Out of the top 3 WRs projected for the 1st round right now, only one of them impresses me, and I have a feeling both woods and hunter will not be 1st round picks when all is said and done

[Texas Vike]

I believe we have one of the highest cap spaces in the league. This is a good FA class and a bad draft class for WRs, I'd rather go with the sure thing and still take a couple WRs in the draft then put all our eggs into draft picks from a weak class. Out of the top 3 WRs projected for the 1st round right now, only one of them impresses me, and I have a feeling both woods and hunter will not be 1st round picks when all is said and done

Agreed.

Strong draft for DL and OL. Time to get a true replacement for Phat Pat. We have to get a LB too. If WRs are scarce we'd be better served looking in FA.