Monthly archive: April, 2012

Vikings Territory Presents Our Draft Season Features

April 16, 2012, by 6 comments

It is almost here!  Almost!  Can you feel it?

The single most anticipated event of the offseason is less than two weeks away and we have some big plans for our readers.  Vikings Territory has designs on making this site the place to be during the 2012 NFL Draft, and the features that will make it so are now being unveiled.

Here is what we have lined up so far:

NFL Draft Live Chat

We plan to bring you the latest news, rumors, and analysis during every single moment of the 2012 NFL Draft.  Myself, Brett Anderson, all-star VT reader Malte, and The Viking Den founder Gil Alcaraz IV will man the live chat each day to ensure everything runs smoothly and is the best Draft experience on the web.

To sign up for an automatic email reminder for the event, and to get a tip on how to ensure your live chat experience is the very best it can possibly be, then click here to check out our new page.  Make sure to add that page to your favorites list.

VT Big Board

Using a unique blend of expert opinions from around the web, as well as our own rankings, we have stacked nearly 400 prospects in our Vikings Territory Big Board.  Brett will be working up a sweat to ensure the Big Board is updated quickly and accurately so that you will know who has been selected by which teams and who is still available as the Draft progresses.

The Big Board is hand tailored to highlight the best players available, but also with a slant towards the roster needs of the Minnesota Vikings.

Check out our Big Board by clicking right here, and be sure to let us know what you think of the rankings!

Updated Draft Order

The Draft Order has been set for a while now, but once the trades start to fly then keeping track of who has what picks can be increasingly difficult.  We will do our best to update this Draft Order, which you can see by clicking here, as information becomes available during Draft Weekend.

There will be no need to go to another site if you want to keep it simple!

Trade Value Charts

There are a number of opinions on the relevance of various NFL Draft Trade Charts.  However, most fans want to reference these quickly and easily on Draft Day.

We have included two of the most popular Trade Charts available, and have descriptions of how each were developed.  This will make for easy reference on Draft Day.

Click here to see the charts.

As you can see, we plan to be working hard for three days straight because we really, really, really hope you will be here with us for the entirety of the event.  We aim to please, so let us know if there might be any other features you would like to see us add between now and then!

All of the features mentioned above can be accessed via the menu at the top of the page, too.

Let’s (Perhaps Not) Make A Deal

April 15, 2012, by 62 comments

Owner and CEO of the Indianapolis Colts Jim Irsay is suddenly no stranger to the “Quarterback Carousel” game that haunts many NFL teams.

For the first time in a very long time, he has had to evaluate this Draft class’ top quarterback prospects after giving away the identity of his franchise, Peyton Manning.  While it is widely expected that Irsay and company will ultimately select Stanford star Andrew Luck with the first overall pick, he recently made comments about Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill that would suggest the Vikings will at least receive some inquiries about the availability of the third overall selection.

Irsay’s recent tweet said, “Tannehill is a hidden gem in this draft, a quiet secret who was always sneaking up to #3..you want him, you better talk to Zigi The Biggie!”

Former Colts G.M. Bill Polian also took to the airwaves to suggest that the path to Tannehill will run through the third overall selection.  He predicted that the Miami Dolphins would trade up to the third spot giving the Vikings their eighth overall selection, their second rounder, and their third rounder to secure Tannehill.

Since trade speculation is starting to pick , Brett and I, who have somewhat different opinions on the topic, decided to create a debate post to start the conversation. We hope it will continue into the comments section with opinions from you all.

According to this post-lockout chart, the Vikings third overall selection is worth 401.3 points of value.  The eighth overall pick (318 points), second round pick (159.1), and third rounder (119.4) total 596.5 as a package which suggests the Vikings would be getting the better end of the deal.

Okay, on to the debate!

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Dontari Poe To Visit With Vikings

April 14, 2012, by 18 comments

Reports are surfacing that the Vikings have worked out Memphis nose tackle Dontari Poe.

Poe (6’ 4” – 346 pounds) solidified his status as this Draft’s top nose tackle with a superb display at the NFL Scouting Combine which included a 4.87 second forty time.  He is expected to come off the board in the first round, but it would be a stretch to call him a candidate to be drafted in the third spot currently occupied by the Vikings.

The team’s interest in top prospects outside the top three is not unsurprising, however.

The Vikings appear to have genuine interest in moving backwards if the right offer presents itself and they need to be prepared to pull the trigger on other top prospects should that situation become reality.  Secondly, since they own the 35th pick too, they need to be prepared to select a top prospect that happens to fall into their lap.

The Vikings have also visited with Boise State defensive tackle Chase Baker.

Trade Jared Allen? We Should Talk About That

April 14, 2012, by 16 comments

A number of weeks ago, Brett and I had a little side discussion about the possibility of the Vikings trading Jared Allen this offseason.  We were even thinking about doing a little back-and-forth feature at the time, as we knew it was inevitable that some other media outlet would bring up this possibility, but we never quite managed to get around to it.

Now that I am back from a long work week, however, I took some time to review all the comments from the last few days and one jumped out to me.

In the comment, a reader says that he heard on a local radio station that a rumor is making the rounds that the Vikings are possibly (could be, maybe, potentially, maybe) considering entertaining offers for their stud right end.

Earlier this offseason, Rick Spielman went out of his way to say that Adrian Peterson was the only player that was off the table in terms of an early departure, which makes sense considering the blockbuster deal they just signed him to.  He easily could have included Jared Allen in that statement, but didn’t.

So, it makes sense that the Vikings won’t trade Peterson, but would an Allen trade make sense?

First, let’s take a look at some possible reasons to consider it an option:

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#MockThree: Give Us Your Grades

April 13, 2012, by 19 comments

If you haven’t been following along, Vikings Territory has had the pleasure of participating in an online, community mock draft called #MockThree. Essentially, it is a real-time draft where real people represent their favorite teams. It was an absolute blast and we are actually already doing it again with #MockFour. (We are the General Managers this time.)

I’ve tried to give everyone here a look into our war room for #MockThree with a few posts discussing the who, what and why of our various selections throughout the draft. If you missed them, go read about the first round, the second and third round, the fourth round and then the final rounds. Come back when you’re done!

For all of you that followed along (Or those who don’t want to and, instead, just want to be a critic!) we would now like you to grade our efforts and tell us what you think of our haul overall. So, here’s what we walked away with:

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Kirkpatrick And Floyd To Visit Vikings

April 13, 2012, by 1 comment

According to Jeremy Fowler of the Pioneer Press, the Vikings will be bringing cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick as well as wide receiver Michael Floyd to Winter Park next week. We already reported that Floyd would be visiting a few days ago. Kirkpatrick’s visit is new news, though.

Realistically, the Vikings will not select either player come April 26th, barring some sort of trade to move further down. It’s good to see the Vikings doing their due diligence though and looking into some of this year’s best prospects at two positions of need.

Ironically, in #MockThree, a social media centric, online, community draft, our war room actually traded back up into the first round to select Dre Kirkpatrick.

 

Inside Our War Room – The Final Rounds

April 13, 2012, by 4 comments

The last few rounds of the #MockThree draft went much quicker than the first four. That’s partly due to the fact that each team has significantly less time on the clock but it’s also because it just feels like there is less weight on your decisions in those later rounds. Or at least it felt that way for me. There aren’t really any guarantees that deep in the draft. Well, I guess there are very few guarantees at any point in the draft, but more so it seems the further back you go. If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, it’s probably because you missed the first few posts in this “Inside Our War Room” series. If that’s the case, you can catch up and see how we impacted who the Vikings selected in the community online #MockThree draft by reading about the first round, the second and third round and the fourth round.

Here’s a short recap of who the Vikings selected up to round five:

Round One

1.03 – LT Matt Kalil, USC
Trade – 2.03, 4.03 and 6.03 for Bengals 1.21
1.21 – CB Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama

Rounds Two & Three

3.03 – S Markelle Martin, Oklahoma State

Round Four

4.33 – WR Nick Toon, Wisconsin
4.39 – ILB James-Michael Johnson, Nevada

Pretty good haul so far if you ask me.

If you remember from my post about the fourth round, their were different opinions in our war room regarding which receiver we should select with our first compensatory pick in the fourth round. I suggested we take receiver Nick Toon while our GM preferred taking a different receiver. Kyle, another member of our war room from the Daily Norseman, tipped the scale in the favor of Toon and that’s what we ended up doing. My point at the time was that the receiver Josh, our GM, wanted to take would probably be there at the beginning of the fifth round whereas Nick Toon was less likely to be around. Ladies and gentleman, something rare happened that day: I was correct! Luckily for us, we were able to grab the two guys we wanted and have our third guy fall to us in the third.

Wide receiver is a huge need for the Vikings. Luckily for them, this year’s draft class is deep with players who can immediately contribute and provide more weapons for Ponder to use in his semi-sophmore season. I outlined a few of these receivers (and did some ‘scouting’) who the Vikings could target in later rounds and it just so happens we ended up with two of those players. Nick Toon and…

With the third pick of the fifth round of the 2012 #MockThree NFL draft…

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