Submitted to the official record, herein lies the transcript of our day two live chat.
It was a fun day and I appreciate everyone that attended.
Day three looks to have even more more action than the first two days combined!
Submitted to the official record, herein lies the transcript of our day two live chat.
It was a fun day and I appreciate everyone that attended.
Day three looks to have even more more action than the first two days combined!
Earlier today, the Vikings took another step forward in improving their roster and, more specifically, bolstering their lackluster secondary. After surprising a few people and choosing to stay put with their pick at the top of the third round, the Vikings selected Central Florida cornerback Josh Robinson. Robinson, although probably not an immediate starter has tons of upside and should be able to challenge some of the current starters for roster spots. Let’s take an even closer look at the pick, some of Josh Robinson’s strengths and weaknesses and how he could immediately contribute to the Minnesota Vikings.
Earlier this morning, I predicted that at some point in Day 2 of the NFL Draft, Spielman and the Vikings would participate in a trade. While it never ended up happening, there was ample opportunity for Spielman to move around. According to the Vikings General Manger, they received “plenty of calls” from other teams looking to move back into the third round and targeting them as a potential trade partner. Instead, Spielman choose to stay patient and see what type of value would be available when the team selected at the beginning of the third
“I wanted to stay patient,” Spielman said. “I don’t want to lose all the ammunition that we have for (Saturday) and we have a lot of picks. We did get a lot of calls about trading into the second round, and when you see the board develop, you sit there and you see you have three or four options still and you’re holding your breath.”
At our Live Draft Chat, we were holding our breath, too. One of those options a majority of us were hoping would still be available for the Vikings pick was LSU wide receiver Reuben Randle who strangely fell much further down than expected by most. Reuben Randle was selected by the New York Giants right before the Vikings selection. Another player the team coveted and have met with at Winter Park was cornerback Trumaine Johnson who was also selected right before the Vikings were on the clock by the St. Louis Rams. Fortunately, the Vikings were still able to nab a great talent like Josh Robinson with their pick.
After a Thursday that was all about the trades, Rick Spielman and the Vikings stayed patient with their lone second day pick.
At 66th overall, the Vikings decided to select Central Florida cornerback Josh Robinson who weighs in at 5’ 10” and 199 pounds.
Robinson figures to fit in well as a zone coverage corner, with great speed and consistent tackling abilities. He has matched up real good against solid receivers in college, most notably A.J. Green.
He was the fastest of all players at the Scouting Combine and looked quite fluid in the other drills, too.
We will have more coming soon on this pick.
As promised, we will be hosting a live chat during every pick of every round of every day of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Click here to chat it up with myself, Brett, Malte, and Gil.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is make sure all four of us leave day two with new nicknames. Oh, and we’ll talk about the Draft, too.
The Vikings didn’t acquire a new wide out in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, so former Bengal Jerome Simpson is still the latest wide receiver added to this roster.
Today, the details of his one year deal have been revealed.
According to Aaron Wilson, the deal is worth up to $2 million. He carries an $800,000 base salary, $950,000 roster bonus, and a $250,000 workout bonus. In other words, Simpson will have plenty of cash to spend on, umm, oregano should he choose to do so.
Simpson is scheduled to be suspended for the first three games of this season for last year’s drug trafficking charges. I have not yet seen clarification as whether or not the Vikings will get a roster exemption during that three week period.
I think Spielman showed yesterday that he his not afraid to move around and make risky moves to get the players he wants. While moving up to grab Harrison Smith at the end of the first round yesterday may have been made easier after acquiring extra picks through the trade with the Cleveland Browns, it is likely that Spielman would have still made that trade anyway. The Vikings still had 10 picks in the draft before this thing even got started. That’s plenty of ammo to wheel and deal.
When asked about the trades he orchestrated on Vikings announcer Paul Allen’s KFAN radio show this morning, Spielman (unprompted) suggested the team may move again in Day 2. “Don’t be surprised with that third round pick if we move back up in to the second round to get a player we covet.” Spielman also suggested that it’s possible the team could even move back again to collect more picks.
Headed into Day 2, the Vikings still have ten draft picks, seven eight of which can be traded. I expect that we will see the Vikings move around again before the day is over.
There are some great wide receivers that fell out of the first round which could mean great things for the Vikings in Day 2. Having already addressed two of our biggest needs (left tackle and safety) with great players, I expect the Vikings to use their next pick, wherever it may be, to add another weapon to the roster for Christian Ponder.
Spielman has publicly stated that the team wants to simply stick to their board and select the best player available when they’re on the clock. That may be true, but players at positions of need tend to move up on your board because your desire to fill that spot can tend to bolster how you evaluate them. I imagine there are quite a few wide receivers still available that could be pretty high up on the Vikings board. Whether the Vikings stay put or they move forward or backward, expect the next pick to be a receiver.
If the Vikings stay where they are and select with the third pick in the third round, here are some names to keep an eye on at various positions of need that could be available.
Wide Receiver:
Mohamed Sanu
Juron Criner
Marvin Jones
(It would be amazing if someone like Stephen Hill, Reuben Randle or Alshon Jeffery somehow fell, but that is highly unlikely)
Cornerback:
Janoris Jenkins
Alfonzo Dennard
Jayron Hosley
Josh Robinson
Defensive Tackle:
Kendall Reyes
Alameda Ta’amu
Jared Crick
Safety:
Antonio Allen
The credibility of my mock draft was absolutely destroyed yesterday after all of the trades. Granted, you can’t predict all the trades, especially when they take place at the magnitude they did yesterday. But typically, there are one to two trades and you have a fair chance of hitting on the other selections. Not my mock draft! I only had four selections correct… And two of them were the obvious Luck and Griffin picks. (Which, honestly, shouldn’t even count). With that being said, here’s my prediction for the first three picks of the second round. I am 90% sure that this is 65% likely to happen.
St. Louis Rams – Stephen Hill, WR, Georgia Tech
The Rams missed out on Justin Blackmon when the Jaguars moved ahead of them through their trade with the Buccaneers. They won’t miss out this time on a potential #1 receiver who will provide an aerial threat for Sam Bradford. Personally, I would have loved to add Stephen Hill. Luckily though, this draft is ripe with talent at that position and we will have plenty of opportunities with our plethora of picks to address the need. They could also take Jonathan Martin to provide some protection for Bradford’s blind side.
Indianapolis Colts – Coby Fleener, TE, Stanford
A tight end is a young, rookie quarterback’s best friend. The fact that Andrew Luck and Coby Fleener already have a strong connection through playing together at Stanford only sweetens the deal.
Baltimore Ravens – Jonathan Martin, LT, Stanford
This is the hardest to predict of the first three selections and it will be interesting to see what the Ravens do with the pick they got from us. My gut feeling is that the Ravens choose to take Jonathan Martin, who I never thought would fall out of the first round. We have Martin as the second best offensive tackle on our Vikings Territory board and the Ravens need somebody who can replace the aging, record label CEO Bryant McKinnie. My “Plan B” here is that the Ravens take the best center in the draft, Peter Konz, to replace ex-Viking Matt Birk after he retires.
Make sure to join us today for our Day 2 Live Chat. Yesterday was a blast and today should be just as exciting. Plus, if you hang out in the chat, you can make fun of me when I’m inevitably wrong about all of the above.

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