What grade would you give this draft for the Vikings?

[PurpleKoolaid]

If they don't have Bradford on their team after this season after giving up the picks they did for him, then I will personally look for Rick and punch him in the mouth. It is beyond asinine that they haven't even talked to his agent.

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He wont be in MN hopefully if this happens so you better have a lot of time to track him down.

[S197]

Cook -- I think it was a good intersection of need and value. PFF had Cook in their top 10 overall and their #1 RB (ahead of McCaffrey, Fournette, and Mixon). Off field issues are a concern but I feel a little overblown. Ball security and staying health (3 shoulder surgeries) are of bigger concern. "A"

Elflein -- Top center so once again, intersection of need and value. Sounds like he has great work ethic and leadership skills. Great run blocker but doesn't excel in pass protection. I'm hoping he'll be a Matt Birk type of guy. "A"

Johnson -- A run stuffer with penetrating ability. Seems like a good fit for this defense although passing on Dede Westbrook is tough. "B"

Gedeon -- Ah everyone's favorite pick! Solid special teamer who seems to shoot the gaps well. Not a fan of his tackling technique. Seems early for this guy and may be the place in the draft the Vikings could have gone T. "D" (so naturally he will be stud of the draft!)

Adams -- As I suspected the Vikings grab a returner and a potential slot guy. Pick gets a "C" because Nathan Peterman was available and I think he was a steal at this point of the draft.

Isidora -- 3-year starter and PFF seems to like him. Believe it or not, they actually had him higher than Elflein. Adds needed depth to the interior line. "B+"

Hodges -- Can possibly add a nice new dimension to the offense and a potential matchup/redzone nightmare for defenses. PFF had him top 100. "A"

Coley -- Top receiver at the "U". Knock seems to be his passion for the game. "n/a" grade, not familiar with him.

Odenigbo -- Bull rusher with a developed spin move. Seems like a similar MO to Crichton. "B"

Lee/Tocho -- No idea. "N/A"

[chicagopurple]

I am surprisingly upbeat on the draft .
as previously mentioned, OT MUST be addressed. I am assuming that SPielman is planning a trade or grabbing a free agent for OT. If not and Clemmings plays ANY downs this year, then the plan is an epic fail. I cant believe he is done yet at OT....the OL will fall apart ir Clemmings or Sirles are part of the "plan".....

[CbusVikesFan]

Second and third, give them an A+, rest of the draft a C. I thought that they were going to stay above the mendoza line the whole draft.

[nightowl]

Overall I give it a B-

The first 3 picks, Cook, Elflien and J.J are A+ in my book.

I like Cook where they got him. He's a first round talent but I would've been hesitant to take him in the first with all the extra stuff he has going on. As a 2nd rounder I love it. He seems like an ideal for where this Offense needs to go with Bradford at QB.

Elflien is my favorite pick I think. I hope he can have a cascade affect on the Line. He's smart, tough and nasty. He's talented and sounds like a real leader.

Johnson sounds like he's a great addition to the rotation at DT. He could do very well out there with Griffen, Linval and Hunter. That dline could be a handful.

Then it got weird for a bit. The trades were odd and I didn't understand the Gedeon or Adams picks. I thought those were reaches, worse still they were the kind where you have to Google a name.

It started to come back around with the Isidora, Hodges and Lee picks. I think those are pretty good late round picks and really may have saved it. Isidora has developmental potential, Hodges can be a Red zone terror and Lee could be a real steal where they got him.

I was disappointed they didn't get Antonio Garcia, I really believe they wanted him at 86 and got snaked by the Pats. No proof, just a feeling. Also I cannot believe they didn't use one of those first two 7th rounders on Zane Gonzalez. The best Kicker in the draft was sitting there for the taking and they had 3 other picks in the round.

The thing I love is that with many of the guys picked you see things like intelligence, toughness and high motor mentioned.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I am surprisingly upbeat on the draft .
as previously mentioned, OT MUST be addressed. I am assuming that SPielman is planning a trade or grabbing a free agent for OT. If not and Clemmings plays ANY downs this year, then the plan is an epic fail. I cant believe he is done yet at OT....the OL will fall apart ir Clemmings or Sirles are part of the "plan".....

I would imagine it would be Hill/Sirles. I can see Clemmings getting cut to be honest. Especially if Collins looks better than him

[Norv Zimmer]

Nobody is talking about the two wide receivers. I think they both have a really good shot to make the team and contribute. I think Adams could be a really good returner.

I love the Cook pick and I think he will be the day one starter. Murray with his ankle injury might now be ready for the start of training camp and Cook is better than him anyway IMO.

Elflein will be very good, I think he starts at center and Berger,isildora, and keirin fight it out at right guard.

Gedeon will be a big contributor not only as a linebacker but I would be willing to bet that he is going to be our number one special teams stud. And he fills the void left by greenway.

The only pics that I'm not too high on was the Bucky pick. I would have much rather seen Jake butt instead of trading back.

I thought I was an overall good draft the Vikings I give it a B+

[VikingLord]

I'd give it a C but it's obviously way too early to grade it with any real accuracy.

Me too, but I might bump it up to a B if we consider Bradford part of this year's draft since the Vikes gave up their 1st to get him. I am factoring in that Bradford will get a full offseason with the team and the system, which he didn't have last year, and I thought he performed well last year.

As for the rest of the draft, it was classic Spielman. He is not afraid to shuffle things around to get his guy, and his guy is usually someone who "should have gone higher" but slipped for one reason or another and who comes with some risk.

- Cook is a solid talent, but I think he's going to need better blocking up front than the Vikings have had in recent memory to realize that talent as a pro. He's even more of a straight-line runner than AD from what I can tell, so he's going to need even better blocking. This team isn't known for stellar run blocking.
- Not too many playoff teams get away with starting rookies at center. My hope is that Spielman isn't looking for an immediate starter with Elflein, and given the depth at that position on the team he might get the year of seasoning he's going to need.
- The rest of the guys strike me as immediate depth, which is fine by me. Whether Spielman finds any starters among that bunch remains to be seen, but there is definitely some potential there.

The upcoming year is going to be defined by how well Bradford does and how well Bradford can do is going to largely be set by how effective the offensive line is. Right now that remains a huge question mark, and I don't think this draft did much of anything to answer that question.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Not sure how you expect to get both Lamp and Cook. They were both projected first rounders and all we had was one second

I'd give it a B+

I expected Rick to move up with all the crappy pick he liked stockpiling every friggin year, and getting Lamp. Even wif we only get 4-5 picks instead of 300.

[PurpleKoolaid]

I wonder what the Vikings have against Morgan. We now have 3 receiving TE's, and really good blocking ones. Which surprisingly is good for me if they can get the bal out quick and not kill SB. I wanna see why we picked Morgan in the first place.

[John_Viveiros]

I have to give it a B. I don't think I'm a Vikes homer - I recall being pretty disappointed with the draft last year. But this year is a lot better.

If you want to have sweet dreams until the season starts, go read the "closer look" at Dalvin Cook at the Daily Norseman. My favorite nugget: "ESPN’s Sports Science reflected what can be seen when watching Cook’s game film: Cook, in pads, is often fastest man on the field. The show measured Cook’s speed and concluded that he is the fastest running back that has been tested in the past five years. He also had the same 20-yard split time as Washington WR John Ross -- who set a Combine record with a 4.22-second 40-yard dash last month -- in pads."
http://www.dailynorseman.com/2017/5/1/1 ... alvin-cook

Like the Elflein, Johnson, Isidora, Odenigbo, and Lee picks. Everyone is in love with Hodges. I think it's great to pick a high risk, high reward guy like that, but he's probably going to bust pretty badly - admit it!

Not of fan of the WR picks, or Gedeon. I'm on the record as saying that limited players drafted late from big schools tend to always be limited players in the NFL [like Tom Brady - eh?]. Usually, you get a pretty good look at them in tough competition and the ceiling is pretty low. But our coaching is pretty good on the defensive side of the ball now, so maybe Gedeon can be coached up to be a decent 2-down linebacker. In the same way Beavers was coached up, eh?

[chicagopurple]

Did anyone see the big list of UFAs we picked up?
SUpposedly Spielman had compiled a long list of guys he wanted and jumped on em all immediately after the draft.
I would be interested to hear the opinion of the more informed folks here on this group of players.

[Nunin]

I applaud the energy put toward UDFAs. Last fall I looked up every O-lineman in the league for where they were drafted to see where the Vikes stacked up vs the league.
One of the things I found was a lot more UDFAs starting or providing quality depth. Even more interesting was how the teams that had those types were typically better teams all around, as far as year in and out.
-
It remains to be seen if the combination of Spielman/Zimmer can fish out the right mix of talent on that side of the ball. They've certainly pulled it off on defense. The starters on offense, when healthy, match up well against the league IMO...it's the huge drop off from there at critical positions that kinks the fow.
A common ailment league wide...but the better GM/coaching combos find ways to get it done, and that's what sets them apart. 2cents

[Dakotavike]

I guess I'm going to have to go B-for all the reasons already mentioned. Really happy with the first three picks, not sold on Gedeon, hated all the trading down for late rounders, but see potential upside for some of the late round/UDFA's. I mentioned it in another thread but will re-address here. I personally really wanted to see them take Peterman at some point in the draft. But I'm just wondering if they think next year's crop of QB talent is better. If so, they could see how things progress with Teddy this year and draft a QB next year to develop behind Bradford. Just a theory. What do you guys think?

[S197]

Did anyone see the big list of UFAs we picked up?
SUpposedly Spielman had compiled a long list of guys he wanted and jumped on em all immediately after the draft.
I would be interested to hear the opinion of the more informed folks here on this group of players.

I can't speak to them other than what I've read but it sounds like we gave signing bonuses and some guaranteed money to a few. After the draft, the player is in control so not putting upfront $ makes it less likely they will sign with that particular team. It seems like the Vikings put forth more $'s this year to get more signing but that's just anecdotal.