At 2-6, the Minnesota Vikings’ status is clear. The season’s second half will provide a pressure-free opportunity to plan, to determine how valuable their current talent crop is while devising an offseason personnel wish list.
By: Dan Wiederer , Star Tribune (Minneapolis) / MCT
MINNEAPOLIS — It’s mid-November. Only eight games remain and suddenly all 32 NFL teams are settling into their castes.
A handful of elite squads talk seriously about the Lombardi Trophy. Others run vigorously in the wild-card race.
Then there’s the grouping of battered also-rans, the fraternity with a permanent president: Mel Kiper Jr. That group has already earmarked April on the calendar. The draft can’t come soon enough.
At 2-6, the Vikings’ status is clear. The season’s second half will provide a pressure-free opportunity to plan, to determine how valuable their current talent crop is while devising an offseason personnel wish list.
Yep, the speed of a turnaround will be determined first when the free agency market opens in March, then to a greater extent during the draft.
Too early to drop “on the clock” references? Nonsense. Enlisting the help of Scott Wright, lead analyst at DraftCountdown.com, here’s a snapshot of the Vikings’ situation:
The Vikings desperately need offensive line help, a few playmakers in the receiving corps and a talent boost at cornerback and safety.
They seem likely to land a top 12 selection. Which means they’ll also have two picks in the top 44. Consequently, the Vikings’ early planning shouldn’t center exclusively around whom to take with the first-round selection. Instead, they must focus on getting the most valuable combination in Rounds 1 and 2.
In that regard, Wright believes left tackle should be the Round 1 priority. Sure, it’s never enthralling for fans to spend the first night of draft weekend watching clips of a 300-pound giant shuffle his feet in pass protection. But if quarterback Christian Ponder truly is the crown jewel the Vikings think he is, they need to safeguard the vault.
Plus, offensive tackle may be the hardest position to address outside the draft.
Said Wright: “Usually if there’s a guy available (via free agency or trade), there’s a reason he’s available. Teams with good left tackles don’t let them go.”
The short list of premier tackles likely to be in the 2012 draft: USC’s Matt Kalil, Stanford’s Jonathan Martin and Iowa’s Riley Reiff.
If the Vikings can land Kalil, that pick should be rubber-stamped immediately. He’s not only the best lineman in this draft but, in Wright’s mind, he’s a difference-maker who can quickly become a Pro Bowl regular.
“This guy is the real deal,” Wright says. “He could be a Joe Thomas-, Tony Boselli-, Orlando Pace- type prospect.”
The Vikings’ problem: they may not lose enough to have a shot at Kalil, who’s certain to be a top five pick and could go as high as No. 2. So the Vikings will need to seriously consider Martin.
The 6-foot-6, 304-pound junior can be a bulldozer in the running game and has also shown admirable athleticism protecting Andrew Luck.
Reiff? He’s a tier below — a nice player, but not a certain star. So if he’s the best lineman available when the Vikings pick, they may be wise flipping the page to the receiving prospects.
You might remember Michael Floyd as an unstoppable high school All-America at Cretin-Derham Hall. The coaches at Notre Dame currently enlist Floyd as their home-run threat, a standout receiver with 68 catches for 832 yards and six touchdowns this season.
The Vikings? Wright believes Floyd could be their ideal first-rounder — assuming they can look past a series of alcohol-related legal run-ins.
At present, ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay ranks Floyd 21st on his board. Wright has him slotted 17th in his most recent mock draft.
“There may be some inevitable hesitance by Minnesota that it’s too early to take Floyd where they’ll be picking,” Wright said.
But hey, a fit’s a fit, right?
“We saw what they did last April with Ponder,” Wright said. “They absolutely loved him and didn’t care where anyone else had him pegged.”
“Exactly what the Vikings need,” Wright said. “He reminds me very much of Larry Fitzgerald. He doesn’t show that elite time speed. But when the pads are on, he’s shown the ability to get down field to make plays vertically. He’s a terror in the red zone.”
If not Floyd?
At present, the more highly regarded receiving prospects are Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon and South Carolina’s Alshon Jeffery. And certainly, the Vikings would not be bummed way if they were to land Blackmon in Round 1.
Since the start of his sophomore season, the Oklahoma State star has averaged 9.4 catches, 134.4 yards and 1.5 touchdowns per game.
Wright warns that Blackmon isn’t an extraordinary athlete in the mold of Detroit’s Calvin Johnson or Cincinnati rookie A.J. Green. But Blackmon does show similarities to Anquan Boldin, a major contributor in Arizona and Baltimore for the past nine seasons.
“When the ball’s in the air, Blackmon has an attitude that he’s going to get it,” Wright said.
“If that means he has to outrun somebody, outleap somebody, outmuscle somebody, he’s going to do that. I really love his competitiveness and physicality.”
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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