Vikings Picks Not Likely Attending Draft

Part of the excitement on draft day I believe stems from being able to see the player your team has picked go through the motions of being a first-round selection. You know, the phone call that has the player and their family ecstatic almost to the point of tears. The walk to the stage where they shake Roger Goodell’s hand and are given a generically numbered version of your team’s jersey (which in the Vikings case would be a brand new jersey). The awkward posing for pictures…

Well, from the looks of it, Vikings fans may not get to see anything like that this year and instead may have to settle for that player sharing the draft day  experience at a place of their own choosing surrounded by friends and family. (How selfish of them…)

Today, the NFL released a list of the 23 players who will be attending the first day of the 2013 NFL Draft on April 25th. On first glance, it seems unlikely the Vikings potential selection at 23 or 25 will be in attendance. See the list below:

Ezekiel Ansah / DE, BYU
Tavon Austin / WR, West Virginia
Jonathan Cooper / G, North Carolina
Eric Fisher / OT, Central Michigan
Shariff Floyd / DT, Florida
D.J. Fluker / RT, Alabama
Luke Joeckel / OT, Texas A&M
Lane Johnson / OT, Oklahoma
Dion Jordan / DE, Oregon
Eddie Lacy / RB, Alabama
E.J. Manuel / QB, Florida State
Dee Milliner / CB, Alabama
Barkevious Mingo / DE, LSU
Cordarrelle Patterson / WR, Tennessee
Eric Reid / S, LSU
Xavier Rhodes / CB, Florida State
Sheldon Richardson / DT, Missouri
Geno Smith / QB, West Virginia
Desmond Trufant / CB, Washington
Chance Warmack / G, Alabama
Menelik Watson / OT, Florida State
Bjoern Werner / DE, Florida State
Kenny Vaccaro / S, Texas

Of the above mentioned prospects, those most likely to be selected by the Vikings are Tavon Austin, Cordarrelle Patterson, Xavier Rhodes and Desmond Trufant. Unfortunately for Vikings fans, it’s also quite likely that all four of those players could be off the board by the Vikings selection.

On a completely unrelated note, it’s surprising to see E.J. Manuel on the list of attendees. Could it be that Ponder’s Florida State successor will pull a Ponder on Day 1? Just 14 days, 19 hours and 32 minutes until we find out… But who’s counting?

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