Rube Rant

Not everything that happens in the world of sports is blue skies and bunnies, even when the scope of focus is limited to the area which I desire to cover. So when a rant is required because of stupid or annoying things happen this will be the format. I can't quite say I hope it's a weekly thing but I plan on it being a recurring post.

And in case you were wondering, no there won't be profanity or coarse use of language.

The thing that has my ire from this past week is the approach that the GM took. In general I approve of and enjoy the players that Rick Spielman takes with the draft. He has brought in many good players, more successful draft selection and free agent acquisitions then failed ones. He has also made good trades along the way, look no further then the trade he made with the Dolphins to flip a third round pick for a third and fourth next year and sixth yesterday.

But then he just made an obnoxious number of silly trades in the later rounds. Thanks to one Christopher Gates over at The Daily Norseman the trades were deciphered.

Essentially, what the Vikings did was

-Move down two spots in Round 6 (from 186 to 188)
-Move up thirteen spots in Round 7 (from 240 to 227)
-Pick up two mid-round picks in the 2017 NFL Draft from Miami (third round pick, conditional fourth round pick)

I'll get to the rant after the break

Peace Garden Stars

Congratulations to all the young men joining the NFL this weekend!

So much of the focus goes toward the first round picks, and rightly so considering the ascribed value of those picks. But that's only 32 or in this case 31 of the 250+ to be selected before Saturday is done.

Likewise, so much of the attention this year has gone toward Carson Wentz. It's been said and will be said again that a North Dakota boy is almost assured to never reach the height that he did. But he isn't the first and won't be the last.

Two years ago, Billy Turner was drafted by the Miami Dolphins. Then Marcus Williams went to the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent.

Last year Kyle Emanuel was selected by the San Diego Chargers. Also, John Crockett joined the Green Bay Packers.

This year Carson Wentz was the #2 overall pick. Then in the fifth round Connor McGovern and Joe Haeg were both selected.

Two years ago people may have thought it was a mirage. A rare instance. Then it happened again last year and now all the action this year. But this year may be the most special of the three. Find out why after this.

Vikings Draft Day 2 reaction

I went in to the draft thinking that the Vikings should draft a QB in the second if one of the top 5 was still available. Well Connor Cook was, but they skipped on that. Not the worst thing since they want to build around Teddy but if not QB then Offensive line or maybe even Safety. It would make even more sense in real time since one of the top rated Safeties was still available when they selected.

But they went Cornerback.

A 5'10" corner who apparently didn't play too much in the slot. He went to Clemson and they've had a squad the last few years which is a testament to coaching but I don't like this pick.

Zimmer is a defensive guy and has had a history of working well with DB's but this is not a top need this year or even looking toward's next season.

When considering positional need and the spot at which he was chosen I'm giving it a C-.

Thankfully, Draft Friday night goes 2 rounds deep and I'll hit on the third round briefly.

Vikings Draft recap - round 1

The Tread is on the tires.
The Well is surely full.

We got the man I wanted all along. Laquon Treadwell is a Minnesota Viking.

I think I just heard someone say "Super Bowl home boi." Oh wait, that was just in my head.

The rounds not done and I'm hoping that GM Spielman can find a way to get back into the first round but if not it's already a success.

Prisoner of the moment, looking at it within minutes of the pick I'm giving it an A+.

14 - 2 just got a little bit more likely & we didn't even have to give up four picks to get him...

If anything else happens or comes to mind it'll be below the fold!

Vikings Draft Compendium

I've now completed the 7 round, 8 pick Vikings draft in 5 separate posts. Since I did the work to break it down that much I'm going to go a little further and do the work to bring it all together. In that exercise I went from the bottom to the top. I know that most of the attention goes to the first round  so I'm going to lead off with that and if interested keep going and see the rest of the picks as I see them hopefully happening. For the top 3 rounds I'll give some alternative possibilities.

I'm keeping it brief here but if you want more of a deep take a look at the five previous posts.

Round 1 - #23 overall

Wide Receiver - Not another 5'10" slot guy or even a speedster but a 6'2"+ receiver to take the number 1 spot.

Alternatives

Lineman - The best one available, either offense or defense.

Linebacker - This is maybe the fourth spot of need on the team but am holding off on Safety until later

Vikings Draft - Stage 5

Well, it's finally time to lock in on the position that I think should be addressed at 23. Because of the value of a first round pick I'm going to do three possibilities, like I did with the second round pick but in more detail. It could be perceived as a cop out to locking in on one position but the draft is hard to predict and combining that with the importance of first picks I don't want to lock myself into one position.

I hope the Vikings are able to draft a best player available and fill one of the needs on the team.

So with the 23rd pick in the 2016 NFL Draft the Vikings will hopefully draft either a Lineman, Receiver or linebacker, but not in that order so you'll just have to go on to see the A, B & C.

Vikings draft - stage 4

We're a few minutes under 8 days to the draft. I've gone through the bottom six picks and finally have gotten to the second round.

That has been plenty of action by other teams but none yet by the Purple. Getting into the top of the draft there are more potential fits then guys who could be excluded. I've already repeatedly noted the areas which could use attention, and will do so again next Thursday pre draft before my make my prediction of the first round but I think now is the right time to firmly eliminate some positions.

Running back
With the Texan Terminator still at the top of the position I don't think a running back needs to be added at all during this draft and especially not in the top rounds. As others have already identified, running back is one, if not the only position where there are more capable players then there are starting positions in the league. So maybe bringing one in as an URFA would bare dividends for the team down the road but not with the 8 picks currently in possession.

Vikings Draft - Stage 3

Well we've reached rounds 4 and 3 now.

As a recap, through the rounds I've already addressed I have the Vikings picking a Defensive Lineman, Wide Receiver, Cornerback and Offensive Lineman. The team needs that I still think they could benefit from addressing through the earlier picks are Linebacker, Safety, Wide Receiver with new additions being Punter and Quarterback.

Before you start yelling at the computer or in your head let me explain a bit.

I like Teddy. I think he has enough ability to win the super bowl but I don't want the Purple to refuse to strengthen the position if it sees a guy worth taking at the pick that they have, possibly even up in the first round. But no spoilers, so don't automatically assume that's the direction I'm going to go when draft day comes around and I address round 1.

As far as punter goes, I didn't address it in the early rounds and I don't want to be drafted at all. Jeff Locke is not the answer for the position but it absolutely needs to be a position that is included in the rookie free agent class. To this point and after this I don't want to a list any particular player but there's a local angle that would fit the need - Ben Lecompte. He won't be drafted because he's a punter from NDSU but he was one of, if not the best punter in the country last year regardless of division. I want the best for the team so hopefully they bring in him or someone else to compete and beat out JL.

Now onto pick talk

Vikings Draft - Stage 2

So working on up from the bottom of the seventh round I think the Vikings would benefit from going defensive line and wide receiver. That would create competition at some important areas while allowing for the remainder of the draft to bring in guys to strengthen other areas of the team.

As mentioned before, I'm completely ignoring the likelihood of Spielman making trades with some of the picks.

The two picks I want to speculate about today are number 198, from the sixth round and 160, from the fifth round.

I'll get to it just across the divide.

Vikings Draft - Stage 1

Last night I went off about a couple NBA draft prospect that I want to see added to the Timberwolves. Well now I'm going to go deep on the NFL draft.

I'm going to go from the bottom to the top and layout which positions I'd like to see addressed with each pick. To stretch the topic out, I'm also going to space it out over the next five weeks.

There's no way to know what Trader Rick will do as far as trades go so I'm just going to ignore the possibility...certainty... of a trade happening. We have 8 picks as of now. Today I'll do the bottom 2 picks. Then move up by 2 for the next 2 times, finishing up with the top 2 picks as individual sets.

I don't plan on pin pointing any certain player for each pick but more so a position that could use bolstering.

So here goes, our 7th round pick, number 212 overall should be a....

Find out after the break!