Cook Visits With Virginia Students

April 7, 2012, by 3 comments

Chris Cook appears to be trying to turn his image around following a season that saw his name in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Cook recently visited Heritage Elementary School in Lynchburg, Virginia where he spoke to the students about the relationship between educations and their futures ran drills and shuttles, and played basketball and volleyball.

“I just wanted the students to know that school is the most important thing, especially today as far as them achieving their dreams and being what they want to be,” he said.

Cook missed his entire 2008 season at Virginia after being declared academically ineligible.

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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Trading Down Still A Possibility

April 6, 2012, by 11 comments

The public has narrowed down the Vikings options for the third overall selection in the upcoming Draft to essentially two:  Draft Matt Kalil or trade down.

Rick Spielman says he will be open to trading down, according to Pro Football Weekly, even when the team is actually on the clock.

“There are times we have been in (the war room) and we’ve done deals on the clock,” Spielman said.  “It’s an unknown, but you’re prepared for both ways. We’ll be ready and we’ll have a good idea of what we think the value of that third pick is.”

“If we want to get out of that pick, we’ll (determine) what it will take to get out of that pick,” he continued. “Plus you have to be careful of how far you would want to go back (down in the draft). You have to know what you’re looking at, depending on how far you go back. Are you getting yourself out of the (range of) the supposedly blue-chip type of players?”

“I think once we get through our draft meetings and get our board finalized and get the coaches involved, we’ll have a pretty good idea of what we want to do,” he said.

Trade partners could consist of either the Cleveland Browns or Miami Dolphins if either become smitten with quarterback prospect Ryan Tannehill.  However, other teams may be willing to move up and grab a blue chip player such as Matt Kalil or Morris Claiborne.

As much as I would like to see the Vikings turn the three pick into a gold mine of other picks, as we draw closer I am becoming increasingly convinced that they will simply make Kalil their selection and stay put.

Peterson Makes Blockbuster Donation

April 5, 2012, by No comments yet

Adrian Peterson may have looked like a man disconnected from the real world when he compared NFL player to slaves in a Yahoo! Interview during the NFL Lockout, but it is hard to deny that he also comes off as one of the most genuinely nice and generous dudes in the league.

No former Oklahoma Sooner has ever donated as much back to their college as Peterson pledged on Thursday.

He is donating a whopping $1 million to the University of Oklahoma’s Athletics Department.

“This was something that I had been thinking about doing for a long time,” Peterson said in a statement. “I always hoped to be in a position to be able to donate back to the University of Oklahoma and make it an even better place; do whatever I could to help the university that did so much for me. It was something that I always wanted to do and there just came a time when I got established and comfortable enough to make it happen. It was a no-brainer to do it and I am thankful that I’m in a position to give back to OU and to show my appreciation.”

The donation will help pay for construction of a housing hall, will fund a scholarship foundation in Peterson’s name, and will see the football team’s meeting room named after him.

Many of us are still making involuntary payments to our college’s via student loans, so it refreshing to see someone like Peterson being so generous with his good fortune in an effort to help out his school and their future students.

Well done, Adrian.  Well done.

Venturing Into The Second Round

April 5, 2012, by 4 comments

Up until today, our Vikings Territory mock drafts have been limited to the first round.

Considering the Vikings are set to select near the top of each round, it only made sense to make things more interesting an include a second round.  You can view my mock draft by clicking here, using the tabs to move between the rounds.

As expected, the Vikings had a number of interesting options available to them with the 35th pick.  These options included DT Devon Still, WR Stephen Hill, CB Alfonzo Dennard, and MLB Dont’a Hightower.

I felt that Still was the best player available at this point but still went against my better judgment and pulled the trigger on wide receiver Alshon Jeffery instead.

Jeffery, once regarded as a top ten prospect, has endured criticism from talking heads for a weight and conditioning issue that seemed completely unfounded when he showed up to the Combine and his Pro Day in great shape.

The Vikings have a huge need at receiver, particularly one that can be the top downfield target for years to come, and I think Jeffery has the potential to fill that role.

Links Of The Week: April Begins

April 5, 2012, by 1 comment

Draft month is finally here, and while we have to wait until the end of the month for the actual Draft to get here there is plenty of reading to do between now and then.

Here are some hand-picked selections:

  • Rob Gronkowski beat out Jared Allen in the latest round of fan voting that will put one player on the cover of the new Madden video game.
  • Brett is one of a few guys representing the Vikings in this live mock Draft that has the Vikings getting Matt Kalil and also trading back into the first round to nab another prospect.
  • An examination of the Vikings reported interest in Bill Parcells.
  • Looking for a way to do some good today?  Consider this.
  • Interesting grading system for the Vikings past few Draft classes.
  • A new rule in the NFL was influenced by our favorite team.
  • The Viking fan base would love to finally see a big signing, but are there any options left?
  • One NFC North team has had a very bad week, which includes an arrest of a player that some (me) wanted the Vikings to draft last year.
  • The signing of Chris Carr represents value and low risk, but could also have Draft implications.
  • A humorous look at the Vikings offseason so far.  Funny, sad, possibly true.
  • Superstitious?  Then here are some reasons to be glad about Jared Allen’s exit from the Madden race.
  • One obstacle was hurdled a while back that could help the Vikings stadium effort.
  • A comprehensive list of prospects known to have visited with the Vikings as the Draft approaches.
  • A “Vikings Mock Draft” that makes selections for every scheduled pick.
  • Chris Carr brings more competition to this Vikings secondary, which is becoming a trend.
  • Some ownership insight into the relationship between Rick Spielman and Leslie Frazier.
  • Mel Kiper is a well regarded media draftnik, so here is a look at who he sees the Vikings targeting in the upcoming Draft.
  • There continues to be plenty of action centering around the Vikings stadium battle, but little progress seems to have been made.
  • The still-existing possibility of the Vikings trading out of the three spot is keeping speculation interesting.
  • Ryan Tannehill’s pro day was a success, which could give the Vikings some serious trade leverage on Draft Day.
  • There is the potential for the Vikings to have not one but two sets of brothers on their team, but can they afford it?
  • The Vikings hosted their “Top 30” prospects this week and a number of blue chip players were invited.
  • Percy Harvin is scheduled to have minor surgery on Tuesday.
  • Like me, Ben Leber is perplexed about why the linebackers are having to wait during this free agency period.
  • Want your Vikings Territory friends to see your own mock draft?  Here is a great place to put it.
  • And now, here it is, your moment of Zen:

Vikings To Sign Veteran Cornerback

April 4, 2012, by 22 comments

Jason La Confora reports that former Ravens cornerback Chris Carr will sign a one year deal with the Vikings.

The 28 year old veteran has played in seven NFL seasons after being signed by the Raiders as an undrafted rookie in 2005.  Up until last season, Carr never missed a game in his time with the Raiders, Titans, and Ravens.

Last season, however, Carr fell out of favor when injuries limited his action and younger Ravens cornerbacks emerged.  He was cut earlier this season as a result of being out played by younger and less expensive talents.

He has 27 career starts, seven forced fumbles, 24 defended passes, six interceptions, and is a fairly dependable tackler.  He is a smaller corner at 5’ 10” and 182 pounds.

The return of Antoine Winfield and Chris Cook to the Vikings lineup, combined with the free agent additions of Carr and Zackary Bowman, suggests that the Vikings may not intend on targeting cornerback help early in the Draft later this month.

That doesn’t mean the secondary couldn’t stand to see some more improvement, however.

After all, Jamarca Sanford is currently this roster’s best safety… and I don’t mean that as a positive thing.