Posts by Brett Anderson

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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NFL 2012 Draft: Later-Round Receiver Scouting

April 12, 2012, by 9 comments

Over the past week or so, I’ve done an extensive amount of research into various draft prospects this year. Primarily, I wanted to familiarize myself as best as possible with all the array of options we would have in the #MockThree draft I’ve been participating in. I also just enjoy doing the research because it gets me more pumped for draft day. Hurry up, April 26th! (Speaking of the draft, don’t forget we’ll be having extensive coverage of the draft here at VT including a live chat.)

We all know what the Vikings first pick will be barring some blockbuster trade from Cleveland or Miami – offensive tackle Matt Kalil, USC. The uncertainty begins with what the Vikings will do with their second pick. It’s likely that they will go one of three ways: receiver, cornerback or safety; all of which are definite team needs. We’ve talked quite a bit around here about different receivers the Vikings could target in the first and second rounds. We’ve discussed Justin Blackmon, Michael Floyd, Kendall Wright, Stephen Hill (yeah!) and Alshon Jeffery.

I wanted to share with everybody some of the research I did on the later round prospects. The people that will probably go in the third round and beyond. This year’s wide receiver class is very deep so the Vikings have ample opportunity to improve the weapons Christian Ponder has this season.

I’ll provide upside and downside for each receiver, some tape analysis and, to wrap it all up, who I would select if I was Rick Spielman. So, if you’re a draft nerd like I am and are groveling for every bit of draft news you can get, join me after the jump to read the rest of this mammoth post.

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Inside Our War Room – Round 4

April 11, 2012, by 15 comments

Alright, back to update you all again on our progress in the #MockThree online mock draft. I’ve touched on it a couple times already (so I won’t again here), but if you missed the first three rounds as well as the general background information on what the draft is all about, use the links below to catch up.

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

After making the Markelle Martin selection at the top of the third, we again had to wait almost two full rounds to make another pick (as a result of the Dre Kirkpatrick trade). And again, it was tough to watch so many players we were targeting fly off the board.

Before making the Martin selection at the beginning of the third, I was pushing for us to take a wide receiver. Let me rephrase that: I was pushing for us to reach on a wide receiver. I had done a ton of scouting on various later-round wide receivers and was convinced that we should take a certain Juron Criner. I really liked Criner’s size and physicality. In watching his tape, he always seemed to come down with the ball and get up the field quickly. Criner fought for extra yardage after the catch and had good hand-eye coordination. I thought it would have been a solid pick as well as address a need that the team had. The GM of our War Room mellowed me out a little bit and told me it would be a reach; that Criner would probably still be there for our compensatory picks at the end of the fourth round. So, we took the safety Martin instead and crossed our fingers that we’d have another shot at Criner with our 4.33 pick.

Juron Criner was selected at 4.25, capping off a frantic run for wide receivers during the fourth.

We were all a little disappointed that Criner didn’t fall just a few picks further. We would have (meaning Josh, our GM, would have…) looked like geniuses! But, alas, we were left without Criner and going back to our board to see what other wide receivers were available that would still fit that ‘BPA’ title and be a good value.

I proposed we take a wide receiver who had fallen a little bit and was still, in my eyes, a great value pick at that point. Somebody who had the size, speed and verticality to stretch the field. Our GM proposed we take a different receiver, one who was a little further down on our board and, while still very promising, didn’t fit the role of a receiver who could be a legitimate threat down field.

So, here it is:

With the 33rd pick (compensatory) of the fourth round of the 2012 #MockThree NFL draft…

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Vikings Sign LB Marvin Mitchell

April 10, 2012, by No comments yet

Per Jeremy Fowler of the Pioneer Press, the Minnesota Vikings added linebacker Marvin Mitchell. Details of the contract are currently unknown, but if a majority off the free agency signings this offseason are any indication, it is probably a low-risk, minimum, short-term contract.

Mitchell, the former Miami Dolphin, entered the NFL in 2007 when he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round. Last season with the Dolphins, Mitchell “recorded 30 tacles, one sack, one interception and one forced fumble…”

Do not expect Mitchell to be an instant fix at linebacker. Instead, the signing is probably just an attempt to add depth to a thin position and bring in some special teams assistance.

An interesting note: Marvin Mitchell was a member of the Saints during the [horrid] 2009 NFC Championship Game. In other words, Mitchell may have been involved in the ‘Bountygate’ scandal. The move suggests that maybe Remi Ayodele really was released for reasons other than his [supposed] involvement in ‘Bountygate.’

Inside Our War Room – Rounds Two & Three

April 9, 2012, by 10 comments

For those that don’t already know here, over the past few days, I’ve been participating in an online community mock draft called #MockOne. It just so happens that this particular iteration is the third time it’s been done, making it #MockThree. And, of course, I am one of the lucky people representing the Minnesota Vikings. For a more in depth explanation of how the draft works, check out my previous post explaining what we did in the first round. Today, I will be reporting back the moves we made (or didn’t make) in the second and third rounds. The reason I am combining these two rounds is because, if you remember, we traded our second round pick to move up and grab Dre Kirkpatrick towards the end of the first round. Or, in other words, we didn’t have a second round pick. We did have a third round pick though, and in just a moment, I will tell you who we targeted and who we actually ended up selecting.

As you’ll remember from my previous post, I was partial to not trading picks to move up into the second round. It’s not that I don’t like Dre Kirkpatrick; I believe he would make a great addition to the team and immediately bolster our secondary. Rather, for a team with so many needs, I felt that we should be hanging on tightly to the large amount of picks we already had and potentially even trading down to amass more. Again, I don’t think it was a bad move, it just wasn’t the ideal move in my mind.

It hurt to watch so many great players go off the board in the second round – a round in which we didn’t have any picks. Granted, Dre Kirkpatrick was essentially our second pick, but still… Wide receiver Stephen Hill, a prospect I would have pushed hard for, didn’t make it to the pick we would have had in the second round which made me feel a tad bit better. Hill was acquired by the St. Louis Rams with the first pick of the second round. And Hill was just one of many wide receivers to come off the board. Alshon Jeffery, Mohamed Sanu, Brian Quick, Joe Adams and Marvin Jones were also selected in the second round, in that order.

So, by the time our third round pick rolled around, taking any of the remaining wide receivers in the draft would have been a huge reach. So, instead, we used the pick to address one of the Vikings other biggest needs (arguably the biggest, according to Adam), safety.

With the third pick in the third round of the 2012 #MockThree draft…

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Michael Floyd To Meet With Vikings

April 8, 2012, by 2 comments

According to NFL.com, Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd is scheduled to meet with the Vikings in the upcoming week. Floyd is just one of the many prospects that the Vikings are sure to host in the upcoming days to the NFL draft.

Michael Floyd is considered by many to be the second best wide receiver in this draft class, only preceded by Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon.

The Vikings, who have the third pick in the draft, are highly unlikely to draft Floyd unless they trade down later into the first round or trade back up into the first round if they really like him.

Interestingly enough, the visit to the Vikings serves somewhat as a homecoming for Floyd who attended, and played football floor, Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Inside Our War Room – Round One

April 6, 2012, by 16 comments

Over the past couple days, I have had the honor of representing Vikings Territory and the Minnesota Vikings in #MockThree. For those that don’t know, #MockThree is the best community mock draft online right now. It is all ran using Twitter and a great website created by Brandon Nall (@EmPuLSe). In this particular iteration of the draft (there have been two prior), each franchise has a “war room” with one General Manager and two Assistant Managers. From there, the mock draft acts almost identically to the real NFL draft. Each team has a certain amount of time on-the-clock to communicate within their war room and choose who they will select in the draft. Teams can communicate with each other throughout the draft (primarily through Twitter) to trade picks. The whole thing is incredibly creative and inventive and the amount of time the people responsible for #MockThree have put into the ‘game’ should be applauded.

I have to be completely honest – I was a little intimidated at first to be a part of this thing. The people involved are incredibly knowledgeable draftniks. Seriously, it’s what these guys do. And I’ll be upfront with you, I am not a draftnik. I’m not incredibly knowledgeable of all the college prospects (primarily the later round ones), I haven’t watched tons of tape and I’m not an expert scout. I do understand the Vikings, though. I know what they’ve done in past drafts, I know the teams’ needs and I have a good understanding of what the team could realistically do in this year’s draft. I’m also willing to work my butt off to do the research and make sure we make the right selections.

Currently, the second round of #MockThree is coming to an end. So, I thought it would be a good idea to recap for you all what we did in the first round, provide some analysis (via Adam Warwas) of what some other teams did and get your feedback on maybe where our war room should go from here.

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