Speculation

Visits Show Some Level Of Interest, But Due Dilligence Sticks Out

April 16, 2013, by 13 comments

Much is being made about a recent report from Peter King noting that Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman dined with Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o on the eve of the college’s pro day.  The Vikings also reportedly interviewed Te’o at the Scouting Combine and invited him to their “Top 30″ event at Winter Park.

Some are going to take the seemingly excessive vetting process as a sign of the Vikings level of interest in Te’o, but it may be a better indication of the level of concern teams have with Te’o's plentiful question marks.  I have been spouting off all offseason about how much sense a marriage between the Vikings and Te’o makes, and I don’t mean to send mixed signals here, but I would caution the readers of VT to not read too much into these visits.

The truth is that the Vikings probably have some level of interest in the players they have interviewed, including Te’o, but are trying to dig as deep as they can into some of these red flags to try and find out which ones are worth the investment of a high draft pick.  The list of attendees that visited Winter Park, or at least the ones we know about, should be all the evidence you need to consider these visits as the Vikings simply doing their due diligence with guys carrying some baggage.

Manti Te’o:  The whole fake girlfriend thing.

Alec Ogletree:  Injuries and arrests in the past.

Keenan Allen:  Worrisome knee injury.

Tyrann Mathieu:  Dismissed from LSU, history of drug issues.

We have profiled each of these prospects as we view them as potential targets for the Vikings later this month, and their visits make sense, but how the visits went is far more important (and secretive) than the fact that these guys visited.

Draft Target: Jamar Taylor

April 16, 2013, by 2 comments

[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!]

I know for a fact that the Vikings defense will feel the impact of Antoine Winfield’s absence, but I am not so sure that the move was really a game changer in terms of the Vikings draft plans, as the need for more quality cornerbacks is something the Vikings have struggled with since, well… forever.

Still, it couldn’t hurt to try and find someone of the same mold as Winfield, and Boise State’s Jamar Taylor seems like a natural fit for Rick Spielman to target in an effort to ease the loss of his veteran tackling corner.

Taylor (5′ 11″ and 192 pounds) played in every game as a freshman and registered 24 tackles, two for a loss, and a pick.  Then, for no other reason than Boise’s depth chart, Taylor redshirted as a sophomore before becoming a full time starter in 2010 and his ability to be a complete corner began to shine through.  That season he had 35 tackles, 3.5 for a loss, two sacks, two defended passes, and three forced fumbles.

Taylor was only able to start the first nine games of 2011 because of a leg fracture but he still managed 27 tackles, two for a loss, two picks, and six defended passes.  He was able to return for the Las Vegas Bowl where he scored on a 100 yard interception return.

After getting healthy, Taylor was able to enjoy his best season as a senior, which included starting every game, 51 tackles, 3.5 for a loss, 2.5 sacks, nine defended passes, four interceptions and three forced fumbles.  His impressive senior season continued to Indianapolis where he was a Scouting Combine standout with a 4.39 forty time.

Despite not being the biggest corner in the world, Taylor plays every bit as physical as many corners that are three or four inches taller than him, and has a reputation for being a “fighter” at the position in regards to his style of play.  He has the technique and strength to press wideouts at the line of scrimmage and the recovery speed to mask any mistakes.  He shows all the fluidity you want to see in his backpedal and hip turn, and is capable of disrupting passes with a well timed high point.

Taylor isn’t as proficient of a tackler as Winfield is, but he is no slouch either.  He plays the run very well, which is important to the Vikings, and is well disciplined in run support assignments.

Taylor is not flawless.  He needs to show more discipline in coverage, he needs to improve his tackling technique, and the guy looks like Jamarca Sanford when trying to haul in an easy interception (that isn’t a good thing) but he makes up for a lot of his shortcomings by playing football in a fearless and competitive way.

When it comes down to it, despite not being one of the highest touted prospects in this class, I view Taylor as a top-25 prospect and wouldn’t be at all disappointed if he were one of the Vikings selections in the first round.  He shouldn’t be expected, if selected, to fully fill Winfield’s void but adding a guy like this would certainly be a good start.

Slow News Day Drums Up Some Joe Webb Chatter

April 14, 2013, by 3 comments

Report:  Sometimes headlines are misleading.

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!

Draft Target: Arthur Brown

April 9, 2013, by 17 comments

[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.

 

Links Of The Week: Getting Closer To Draft Time

April 8, 2013, by 9 comments

You know the drill, here is the best of the best:

Draft Target: David Amerson

April 7, 2013, by 13 comments

[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!]

Despite nine starts as a true freshman, N.C. State cornerback David Amerson was very quiet and his only real notable stats was one lone pass breakup, 57 tackles, and a forced fumble.  In 2011, however, Amerson had one of the most prolific seasons of any corner in the history of college football.

As a sophomore, Amerson amassed a ridiculous interception total of 13, which was the second highest total in FBS history.  He also had 59 tackles and five defended passes.  He proved to be a true game changer in multiple 2011 contests and it was fully expected that he would be a sure-fire top ten pick when he entered the Draft.

Then his junior season happened.

His final numbers weren’t really too awful.  He had 54 tackles, five interception, and 11 defended passes.  Those don’t tell the whole story, however, as Amerson was constantly abused by opponents.  His fundamentals were terrible, he bit on double moves, and just constantly looked like he was trying to force similar production as was experienced in the previous season.

In one game, against Miami, Amerson was beat on four passing plays that led to touchdowns and contributed greatly to his team’s loss.  His junior season was plagued by him getting duped by double moves, failing to recover lost ground against his man, and just overall being a liability in the defense.

With one mediocre season, one fantastic season, and one horrible season of game tape to his name Amerson has become one of this class’s most talked about prospects.  A lot of people were curious to see which game tape his Combine performance would confirm and for the most part he showed great athleticism, including a 4.44 second forty time.

I think Amerson is a great prospect for the Vikings to consider.  He is at his best when he is allowed to roam in zone coverage, and he displays great instincts when it comes to jumping routes or keeping the play in front of him, while also proving capable of roughing his man up a bit at the line of scrimmage.  He plays the position like a receiver, seldom missing an opportunity to pick off an errant pass, and has solid return skills once he secures the football.

At 6′ 1″ and 205 pounds, he could also end up transitioning to safety at the next level, and rumor has it some teams are projecting him as an NFL safety.  I don’t think moving him to safety will be a necessity if he can get some high quality NFL coaching early in his career, as his flat footed play and slow hip turn are correctable issues.  If he can become more refined at his craft then he might just become a turnover machine, which the Vikings haven’t really had since the earlier days of Darren Sharper.

Teams that like to man-up there corners, and leave them on an island, are not going to be too keen on Amerson unless they view him as a safety.  A team like the Vikings, however, may benefit from his scheme-specific skill set by scooping up a game changing talent with a second or third round pick.  He has all of the attributes and skills to be very successful at the next level, and the Vikings might just be the right fit for him to once again fulfill his potential like he did in 2011.

Opening Up The Ol’ Mailbag

April 7, 2013, by 6 comments

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.

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