An NFL.com article was headlined “Joe Webb will switch to wideout for Minnesota Vikings” on Sunday which led many to assume, you know, that the Minnesota Vikings were going to switch Joe Webb to wideout again.
That, however, may not be the case.
The source for this “report” comes from a Sid Hartman article in which Leslie Frazier gave a typical non-committal non-answer answer when asked about the possibility of once again moving Webb to another role in the offense.
“[Webb] is such a talented athlete that we want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing by him and our team, as well,” Hartman quoted Frazier. “That’s something we’ll continue to discuss as we go forward.”
Perhaps the league’s official site should have written a more responsible headline. ”Frazier Doesn’t Rule Out Webb At WR” would’ve been a little less deceiving.
Regardless, things are a little slow right now, so bring on some good old Joe Webb debate!
[Note: Want to see a list of every player featured in our "Draft Target" segment? Click here to visit the Offseason Tracker where there will be a list of all these players. Check back often as there are plenty more to come!]
One of the most popular names being connected, by fans and analysts, to the Vikings middle linebacker vacancy has been Kansas State prospect Arthur brown. Brown was a standout in the Scouting Combine interviews and he weighed in at 6′ 0″ and 241 pounds, an increase of bulk from his college listing, which was nice to see considering he still ran the forty at about 4.6 seconds at his pro day.
The biggest knock against Brown is that he lacks the ideal size for a middle linebacker of a 4-3 team where he will be asked to cover taller tight ends down the field and some, like me, worry that he would be forced to take on the weakside outside role rather than be a solution in the middle.
If any guy in this Draft has the skills to overcome measureable issues, however, it is probably Brown.
He plays the game with very good instincts and seems to be a very intelligent player-coach on the field, meaning that both his leadership ability and knack for reading defenses made him more valuable to Kansas State than most linebackers in college. He is a sound tackler and shows excellent gap discipline against the run.
Brown may not have the elite type of speed Combine fanatics line up to see, but he has the quickness and agility that converts into some of the best range of any linebacker in this class. He is the type of guy you trust to cover a runner out of the backfield sideline-to-sideline, but could still get burned down the seam by tight ends.
Brown started out playing for Miami where he barely saw any action in two years. He then went to Kansas State with his brother, Bryce, to play for head coach Bill Snyder. He redshirted for a year at his new school, but before the next season even started he was named a captain on defense, and became the best defender on the team. Outside of his shoulder injury that kept him out of the Senior Bowl and Combine, Brown proved to be fairly durable, and there really are no red flags on either this prospect’s health or character at all. The 21 bench press reps he produced at his Pro Day should be a reasonable indicator that the shoulder is no longer an issue.
In 2011, Brown notched 101 tackles, 9.5 of which were for a loss, and made one of the biggest plays of the year when he ended RGIII’s non-interception streak. In 2012, he had 100 tackles, seven for a loss, one sack, four defended passes, and two interceptions.
Brown possesses all of the attributes, other than size, you want to see from a middle linebacker prospect and has the production on his resume to back it up. I personally have Brown just shy of a first round grade, and worry that he will not be a three down player, but enough other people that I respect would scoff at that statement that I am willing to concede that I might be wrong.
What I do know is, if the Vikings select him in a couple of weeks, he will be an upgrade to this group of linebackers no matter where the coaches decide to stick him. His range and quickness would be a welcomed addition to this defense, especially as they prepare to play about 10 games against mobile quarterbacks in 2013, where this defense obviously needs help.
Some Hack Blogger tried to predict five guys the Vikings will target in a couple of weeks.
I’ve been making the case for a new punter all offseason, most recently profiling LSU punter Brad Wing, and it appears that the Vikings had him in for a workout.
Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker reportedly visited Winter Park last week, and it just might have been to see how he performs lining up at guard.
There are a number of reasons the Vikings should consider quarterback Geno Smith if he, somehow, begins to slide on Draft Day.
If the need at middle linebacker wasn’t so painfully obvious then Leslie Frazier’s recent comments might feel like a smokescreen.
To shake things up a little this weekend I decided to solicit questions from the audience for the first time in a long time. As the Draft approaches, there is always an increase in questions from those that for some reason find this hack blogger’s opinion to be relevant, and I wanted to give the opportunity to ask as many as possible before the pre-Draft craziness fully sets in. Below are the results.
There have been some recent questions about our tradition of our Draft Weekend Live Chat and whether it will live on in 2013.
Our normal software avenue has decided to start charging for their services. They are now charging by the number of readers that use the live chat services and VT has really started to take off recently, which is a great problem to have, and we expect thousands of people to visit our site on Draft Weekend. This means it could be a pretty expensive proposition for this little blog to consider.
Still, Brett and I are currently evaluating alternatives, and we are sure to come up with something.
One of our loyal readers very generously offered to set up a chat room for us here at VT free-of-charge and we’ve been testing it out. There are some pros and cons to it, and it won’t look as slick as what you’ve grown used to, but I think it will get the job done. Stay tuned!
A number of people asked about us updating our mock drafts and releasing some sort of positional rankings prior to the Draft.
Yes, my mock will be updated at least once (probably more) prior to the draft taking place. I’m hoping to find the time to add a second round fairly soon, as well.
I am also working on creating a VT-unique “Big Board” of about 300 players. Last year Brett worked hard to make our Big Board update somewhat instantly as the Draft progressed, crossing off players as they were selected on Draft Weekend. Preferably we’ll be able to get something like that together again. That’s the goal.
Okay, now onto some more interesting questions. SKOL12 wanted to know what type of defensive tackle the Vikings are in need of. Do they need a big run stuffer, and athletic pass rusher, or someone a little more balanced?
I think it is clear that the Vikings don’t have a massive run stuffer and could benefit from grabbing one like John Jenkins or Jesse Williams. Given the age, possible regression, and heavy cap hit of Kevin Williams I also can’t see the downside of drafting a very well balanced defensive tackle like Sylvester Williams. With the Vikings defense struggling greatly against mobile quarterbacks last season, and about 10 of them on the schedule this season, getting more athletic in the middle of the defense needs to be a priority, as well, which is why a guy like Sheldon Richardson appeals to me so much.
Ideally, Letroy Guion and Christian Ballard can step up to the plate in 2013, and Kevin Williams regains some of his previous spark. That might be a lot to bank on, however, and the Vikings need to add some competition via the Draft regardless of the type of lineman they are eyeballing.
Reader SB wants to know if trading up into the late teens to grab Sheldon Richardson would appeal to me if it only costs a fourth or fifth rounder to pull off.
Yes! I consider Richardson to be a special talent and any team in that range will be interested in him. It will likely cost a lot more than that to move up in the first round, but if this deal presented itself I would certainly move up and get my guy.
[Note: Want to see a list of every player featured in our "Draft Target" segment? Click here to visit the Offseason Tracker where there will be a list of all these players. Check back often as there are plenty more to come!]
If you haven’t guessed by this point in the offseason, yes, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Vikings might proactively look towards the NFL Draft to replace veteran Chris Kluwe before the final year of his contract is played out. In my profile of Louisiana Tech punter Ryan Allen I talked about Kluwe’s high salary, special teams coordinator Mike Priefer’s comments about Kluwe’s exhaustive off field endeavours and also just the possibility of finding an upgrade at the position.
Since writing that article I have become even more convinced (keep in mind now, this strictly irresponsible speculation Adam talking, not news reporting Adam) that Kluwe’s cap hit could be reason enough for his early exit. The team currently has about $4.4 million in cap space, which is not likely to even be enough to sign their entire Draft class, let alone sign a guy like Antoine Winfield to a new contract on top of that. That means something has to happen, and while Kevin Williams or Jared Allen could still be candidates to change their contract status, finding an upgrade to Kluwe in the Draft and exchanging his $1.4 million salary for a rookie deal might just make too much sense.
The key to all of this, however, is finding a rookie that can be a clear upgrade to Kluwe like the Vikings found at kicker last year with Blair Walsh. I’ve already talked about how I think Ray Allen is that guy but may require a very high level of investment from a draft pick standpoint. This is actually a fairly talented and fairly deep punter class, but outside of Allen only one other guy really stands out as an excellent prospect.
LSU’s Brad Wing (6′ 3″ and 184 pounds) is unlikely to relieve Priefer of all drama on his squad, as he comes with a bit of a history. Wing is Australian born (do I even need to continue?) and, thus, has a brazen attitude and a tendency to find himself a “good time.” Its okay, I can say stuff like that, my best friend is an Aussie.
He first became noticed on a national level when he… a punter, mind you… nullified his own 52 yard touchdown run on a fake due to taunting the opponents prior to crossing the goalline. In his defense, as the video evidence shows, it was kind of a weak call. His troubles didn’t stop there as he was suspended for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl due to breaking team rules, and at least one unconfirmed report said it was substance related, and there have been rumors of other off-field incidents plaguing the young talent.
Wing became the first punter to declare early for the NFL Draft, he was a redshirt sophomore in 2012, since Chris Gardocki did it way back in 1991 and he certainly has the leg to justify such a move.
Wing started 24 games at LSU after playing just one year of high school ball as an exchange student. He was second in the SEC with a 2011 punt average of 44.4 yards and last ranked 12th in the nation with a 44.8 yard average. He occasionally unleashes ridiculously powerful punts like his 73 yarder against Alabama in 2011, eight more career punts of 60 yards or greater.
Perhaps even more important, however, is the talent he displays for directional punting. He has explained that his ability to do this with such proficiency comes from another game in another hemisphere: Australian Rules Football.
“You can score from any angle and distance so there’s a lot of kicks I’ve gotten used to over the years where the American kickers they just kind of stand there and kick it as far and high as they can,” Wing said in 2011. “That’s not my mindset. I’m just trying to kick it away from the return man. Coming over to America, I didn’t really understand why punters kicked to the return man.”
As of that article, dated January 6th, 2011, Wing had amazingly punted the football 50 times and LSU had only allowed six (yes, six) punt return yards in total. That is pretty amazing, really.
Now, maybe having Tyrann Mathieu on the coverage squad had a lot to do with that, because LSU’s overall punting game was quite as dominant in 2012, but Wing still was a cut above most punter prospects in most respects.
The question for NFL teams is whether or not they will be able to depend on Wing to stay out of trouble and be available on a weekly basis. The last thing an NFL team wants to do is use two roster spots on punters because the first one couldn’t stay smart. Without knowing how teams truly view Wing’s character it is impossible to predict where he will be selected. He is talented enough to be a third round pick, but is troubled enough to go undrafted.
If he starts to fall on Draft weekend, and the Vikings are intrigued enough, then he might just be a solution to a problem that is only one year away from being a significant one. For some NFL team’s fans, he will surely be one of the most intriguing players to watch in training camp.
Alright, what better way to catch up on the news and kick off Draft Month than to send you towards all of the best articles across the internet? Enjoy!
Don’t forget to bookmark our Giveaway Page so you can enter our raffle for Amazon gift cards every day between now and the Draft!
The father of Mike Wallace claims that his son turned down a larger offer from Minnesota than what he signed for in Miami. His loss, our gain, as far as I am concerned (if there is a shred of truth to it).
Antoine Winfield has yet to sign elsewhere, and rumor has it the Vikings could still be in the mix, which makes Vikings fans very hopeful that he sees at least one more year of action as a Viking.
Michael Jenkins was too expensive for the Vikings to keep this year, but he recently landed in New England under a new deal.
Antoine Winfield may not be the best NFL corner when it comes to covering the best NFL wide out, but he is still one of the best for a number of reasons.
The linebacker is largely considered to be the most glaring need for the Minnesota Vikings as April’s Draft edges closer, but their decision to bring back veteran Marvin Mitchell on Tuesday helps provide them with an insurance plan in case the instant-starter they surely covet in the first two rounds next month doesn’t pan out.
Mitchell signed a one year deal with the Vikings after spending 2012 with the team as a special teams contributor and a two-week starter in place of the injured Erin Henderson. In those two weeks Mitchell made four tackles, and added five tackles plus a forced fumble on special teams over the course of the year.
Chad Greenway and Erin Henderson are expected to return as starters at their respective outside linebacker spots, but the drama lies in the middle after previous starter Jasper Brinkley was allowed to leave via free agency this offseason. Mitchell joins a depth chart that includes Audie Cole, Tyrone McKenzie, and Larry Dean.
According to Dan Wiederer of Access Vikings, the team “has not closed the door” on the possibility of Cole competing for the remaining starting spot. Cole, a seventh round selection last year out of North Carolina State, made his biggest splash last season when he returned interceptions for touchdowns on back-to-back plays against the Buffalo Bills. He was inactive for 11 games in 2012 and registered no stats, but you have to remember that receiver Jarius Wright was also kept inactive as a rookie until Percy Harvin’s injury forced the Vikings to play him, and he now figures to be a key part of the offense.
The Vikings have reportedly flirted with the idea of bring in Brian Urlacher, which I thought made no sense, but have otherwise not let word leak about any interest in other possible linebackers. Larry Grant and Karlos Dansby are a few free agents still available that might make sense, but it otherwise looks like the Vikings will be looking to the Draft for that guy capable of leading their defense.
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