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This should be moved to the NFL forum since Winfield Junior is not a Viking and the post has nothing to do with the Vikings, I have reported it to the moderator to have it moved

It’s about the ‘09 Vikings. Plus it’s the off-season with not much to talk about, I don’t see an issue with this here.

Sadly, the Vikings had a chance to draft Winfield.

Instead, Spielman thought it wiser to pay Anthony Harris.

J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:21 am Sadly, the Vikings had a chance to draft Winfield.

Instead, Spielman thought it wiser to pay Anthony Harris.

I was one that wished we had drafted him.

Foreman44 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:05 am

J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:21 am Sadly, the Vikings had a chance to draft Winfield.

Instead, Spielman thought it wiser to pay Anthony Harris.

I was one that wished we had drafted him.

Me too!

Foreman44 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:05 am

J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:21 am Sadly, the Vikings had a chance to draft Winfield.

Instead, Spielman thought it wiser to pay Anthony Harris.

I was one that wished we had drafted him.

Me too.

Y'know, I realize hindsight is 20/20. But think about this for a minute. What if, instead of drafting Jeff Gladney, we would have drafted Antoine Winfield Jr. and let Anthony Harris walk?

1. We would have saved up to $10 million against the cap in 2020 (Harris $11.3 million, Winfield $1.3 million).
2. We would have had a young safety with not only far more upside, but is already a better player than Harris.
3. We wouldn't have Jeff Gladney, but he basically played at replacement level AFTER his first six weeks of getting burned, AND he projects as a slot corner down the road.
4. Winfield would have loved playing in the same town as his dad and would have been an instant fan favorite.
5. We wouldn't still have to find a replacement for Harris, who is sure to be let go.

Again, we didn't know for sure that Winfield would be as good as he turned out to be, especially as a rookie. But the whole idea of keeping Harris was to provide a safety net for the young corners. He failed miserably at that. And as we see now, Winfield would have provided twice the play at a tenth of the price.

J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:47 pm

Foreman44 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 11:05 am

I was one that wished we had drafted him.

Me too.

Y'know, I realize hindsight is 20/20. But think about this for a minute. What if, instead of drafting Jeff Gladney, we would have drafted Antoine Winfield Jr. and let Anthony Harris walk?

1. We would have saved up to $10 million against the cap in 2020 (Harris $11.3 million, Winfield $1.3 million).
2. We would have had a young safety with not only far more upside, but is already a better player than Harris.
3. We wouldn't have Jeff Gladney, but he basically played at replacement level AFTER his first six weeks of getting burned, AND he projects as a slot corner down the road.
4. Winfield would have loved playing in the same town as his dad and would have been an instant fan favorite.
5. We wouldn't still have to find a replacement for Harris, who is sure to be let go.

Again, we didn't know for sure that Winfield would be as good as he turned out to be, especially as a rookie. But the whole idea of keeping Harris was to provide a safety net for the young corners. He failed miserably at that. And as we see now, Winfield would have provided twice the play at a tenth of the price.

While I didn't love the Gladney pick (I was onboard with it and thought it was a solid one) I did want Winfield Jr. I felt our corner position was in better position than our Safety position.

Can you please get over not drafting Winfield? The crying and whining about not drafting Winfield is getting old and tiring, please give it a rest

I totally agree Winfield would have been a MUCH better pick than Gladney

But just to offer some devil’s advocate counter points

1. It’s possible he would have struggled more in Minnesota learning Zinmer’s system AND covering for young inexperienced corners
2. With no CB in 1st you KNOW Zim wouldn’t have been able to help taking a CB in the 2nd. Would you will willing to trade Ezra/Gladney for Winfield / 2nd round CB??


Sorry just had to ask because when there are SOOOOOOOO many holes to fill there are always difficult choices

Of course we could have used the $10M on a G or a CB in FA!!!

RandyMoss84 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:21 pm Can you please get over not drafting Winfield? The crying and whining about not drafting Winfield is getting old and tiring, please give it a rest

No.

Yep time to move on. Just move on from Winfield Jr!

I don't think it was crying for Winfield. Just a fun post about the 09 Vikings and Saints.

VikingPaul73 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 7:22 pm I totally agree Winfield would have been a MUCH better pick than Gladney

But just to offer some devil’s advocate counter points

1. It’s possible he would have struggled more in Minnesota learning Zinmer’s system AND covering for young inexperienced corners
2. With no CB in 1st you KNOW Zim wouldn’t have been able to help taking a CB in the 2nd. Would you will willing to trade Ezra/Gladney for Winfield / 2nd round CB??


Sorry just had to ask because when there are SOOOOOOOO many holes to fill there are always difficult choices

How do we know that Winfield would have been a better pick than Gladney after just a single season of watching both?

Also, keep in mind that Winfield played on a team that statistically was much better defensively all year than the Vikings. While Winfield's play certainly contributed to the Bucs defense overall, it's hard to say what the relative contribution of each individual player was to the overall result, and added to that uncertainty is the fact they play different positions in the secondary and are asked to do different things.

Put another way, if the Vikings took Winfield in the last draft and the Bucs took Gladney, your perspective on which player was a better pick could likely be flipped with Gladney "looking better" not because he necessarily is better, but because he played for the team that made the playoffs and had a better result.

It's just too early to declare the Vikings missed with Gladney.

With that said, I wanted the Vikings to pick Winfield and honestly would have been happy had Spielman taken him in the 1st round. The knocks on Winfield were the same as the knocks on his dad - namely, he didn't have the physical measurables that scouts wanted, but his tape didn't lie and neither did his pedigree. He would have been a great addition to the Vikings.