Thomas’s highlight reel is very fun, but it is a bit tough to swallow them reaching on the consensus board by like 70 spots at a non premium position with the Greenard trade pick. People sometimes act like extra picks you get from a trade or the compensatory system are “free picks” that you don’t have to spend rationally, but that just isn’t true. Overall, the OT pick is obviously a bit of a head scratcher, and they left some good CBs and WRs on the board that I think could’ve had an immediate impact. But it won’t surprise me if Darrisaw and O’Neill both miss games, so hard to be too upset on getting tackle depth with a guy who was a bit of a consensus steal. Fun night, hopefully they hit on some of these guys. They all seem like really good dudes from the interviews.
Yeah, if I had to guess, they probably were feeling pressure to take him after missing out on Haulcy. They don’t pick for a while and needed something at safety, so if he was their guy that’s how you talk yourself into a reach. Consensus board isn’t gospel, but there were way better players available at other positions in my opinion.
For BFlo, maybe Thomas fits his vision for safety. And thus the big board rankings for safeties don`t matter (as this is B Flo`s guy). But we could have gotten a center, RB, CB or WR that would be solid. So the opportunity cost is real.
Good points about following the Patriots model of building the defense from the inside out and the division opponents. Rob is setting this up to be an attractive GM job.
"Not getting anything in terms of instant-impact offensive prospects feels like something was left on the table as well"
They didn't need instant-impact offensive prospects this year. They already have one of the best WR tandems in the league, one of the better TE1s in the league, and 2 good-not-great RBs. Plus they have one of the more athletic QBs. They need an upgrade at RB1 but there wasn't one in this draft. WR3 is a hole but they have a high-upside prospect drafted just last year who hasn't had a chance to play yet, and there are still decent options left in free agency. TE1 will be a need next year (and Sadiq would've been a fun pick in so many ways) but it's not like they don't have talent there right now.
They did need to add size, strength and talent to the DL. They came into the draft with easily the worst DL depth chart in the league -- a combined cap hit of barely $5M for the entire group and a 5th round pick (Ingram-Dawkins) as the biggest investment.
The tackle uncertainty isn't just about 2027. Darrisaw may never be the same player again, and O'Neill is past 30 and can get banged up. Ryan Van Demark is a good backup tackle option, but he doesn't have much experience (less than 600 career snaps), while their only other backup is Rouse, who wasn't trusted last year and probably won't make the team this year.
They also needed to add more size and juice to the middle of the defense at the 2nd and 3rd levels. Cashman, Wilson and Metellus are small. The LBs at least can move but Metellus isn't very fast or explosive (though still a good player because of his smarts and instincts). Theo Jackson showed last year he lacks presence coming down into the box in run defense. Jay Ward might be good but he hasn't played much. And who knows if Harrison Smith is coming back. So they invested in a big hybrid ILB with plus athletic traits and a bigger SS type who hits hard.
NFC North these days is a real slugfest. The foundations of the Vikings roster (everyone but the blue chip players at skill positions, tackle and edge) have been noticeably smaller, slower and weaker than their opponents in Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay. Vikings need to be able to trade punches with those teams. They started to fix that this weekend. Very happy with their approach, just worried about the injury risk with Banks.
The phrasing, gracious. The Vikings “were put into a very difficult spot?” Well, no—they picked a destination then made deliberate and awful choices to get there.
The Greenard trade is really disappointing. We saw the recent market for vet pass rushers who would need new money, and the others all went for material draft capital. The whole point of doing longer term UFA contracts is they give teams leverage (contrast this with eg Linderbaum doing only a 3 year deal, or Cousins’s entire career). Trading Greenard for such a lousy return wasted that leverage.
If this was the best offer available, Brzezinski should have told Greenard to come to camp and produce this year. The whole point of signing Murray is to try and win this year. This trade did the opposite.
What I don’t understand is how the hell we’re in a bad cap situation considering our “QB of the future” is on a rookie contract and our presumed starter is making the vet minimum. That’s terrible; boy I hope the guy who signed all those other contracts isn’t making big decisions for the team…
The cap last year was $280. KAM spent $350. The only way to do so is by allocating money into future cap years, similar to buying a couch with zero money down.
Overall I think they did a much better job drafting last night than they did in round one. I'm still stinging from the Banks pick. I could see Orange being a more successful player in the NFL than Banks .... I really hope I'm wrong.
Regarding Greenard, all the reasoning on why they moved on from him makes sense. Although they didn't get the day two premium pick that they were looking for as a return. Bottom line is Brzezinski is a cap guy. Since he is in charge he's going to do what he can to straightened out the cap. The Greenard trade is a direct reflection of that.
Thomas’s highlight reel is very fun, but it is a bit tough to swallow them reaching on the consensus board by like 70 spots at a non premium position with the Greenard trade pick. People sometimes act like extra picks you get from a trade or the compensatory system are “free picks” that you don’t have to spend rationally, but that just isn’t true. Overall, the OT pick is obviously a bit of a head scratcher, and they left some good CBs and WRs on the board that I think could’ve had an immediate impact. But it won’t surprise me if Darrisaw and O’Neill both miss games, so hard to be too upset on getting tackle depth with a guy who was a bit of a consensus steal. Fun night, hopefully they hit on some of these guys. They all seem like really good dudes from the interviews.
I liked all the other pics but agree with you on Thomas
It is great for the teams to find sleepers in the later rounds.. But the point is to actually pick them in the later rounds!
Yeah, if I had to guess, they probably were feeling pressure to take him after missing out on Haulcy. They don’t pick for a while and needed something at safety, so if he was their guy that’s how you talk yourself into a reach. Consensus board isn’t gospel, but there were way better players available at other positions in my opinion.
I think that is the issue.
For BFlo, maybe Thomas fits his vision for safety. And thus the big board rankings for safeties don`t matter (as this is B Flo`s guy). But we could have gotten a center, RB, CB or WR that would be solid. So the opportunity cost is real.
Good points about following the Patriots model of building the defense from the inside out and the division opponents. Rob is setting this up to be an attractive GM job.
They paid Flo, and he’s clearly influencing this draft.
I think part of the deal might have been have his voice loudly heard on draft day.
I appreciate this deep analysis, as I was truly wondering what they were doing.
"Not getting anything in terms of instant-impact offensive prospects feels like something was left on the table as well"
They didn't need instant-impact offensive prospects this year. They already have one of the best WR tandems in the league, one of the better TE1s in the league, and 2 good-not-great RBs. Plus they have one of the more athletic QBs. They need an upgrade at RB1 but there wasn't one in this draft. WR3 is a hole but they have a high-upside prospect drafted just last year who hasn't had a chance to play yet, and there are still decent options left in free agency. TE1 will be a need next year (and Sadiq would've been a fun pick in so many ways) but it's not like they don't have talent there right now.
They did need to add size, strength and talent to the DL. They came into the draft with easily the worst DL depth chart in the league -- a combined cap hit of barely $5M for the entire group and a 5th round pick (Ingram-Dawkins) as the biggest investment.
The tackle uncertainty isn't just about 2027. Darrisaw may never be the same player again, and O'Neill is past 30 and can get banged up. Ryan Van Demark is a good backup tackle option, but he doesn't have much experience (less than 600 career snaps), while their only other backup is Rouse, who wasn't trusted last year and probably won't make the team this year.
They also needed to add more size and juice to the middle of the defense at the 2nd and 3rd levels. Cashman, Wilson and Metellus are small. The LBs at least can move but Metellus isn't very fast or explosive (though still a good player because of his smarts and instincts). Theo Jackson showed last year he lacks presence coming down into the box in run defense. Jay Ward might be good but he hasn't played much. And who knows if Harrison Smith is coming back. So they invested in a big hybrid ILB with plus athletic traits and a bigger SS type who hits hard.
NFC North these days is a real slugfest. The foundations of the Vikings roster (everyone but the blue chip players at skill positions, tackle and edge) have been noticeably smaller, slower and weaker than their opponents in Chicago, Detroit and Green Bay. Vikings need to be able to trade punches with those teams. They started to fix that this weekend. Very happy with their approach, just worried about the injury risk with Banks.
The phrasing, gracious. The Vikings “were put into a very difficult spot?” Well, no—they picked a destination then made deliberate and awful choices to get there.
The Greenard trade is really disappointing. We saw the recent market for vet pass rushers who would need new money, and the others all went for material draft capital. The whole point of doing longer term UFA contracts is they give teams leverage (contrast this with eg Linderbaum doing only a 3 year deal, or Cousins’s entire career). Trading Greenard for such a lousy return wasted that leverage.
If this was the best offer available, Brzezinski should have told Greenard to come to camp and produce this year. The whole point of signing Murray is to try and win this year. This trade did the opposite.
What I don’t understand is how the hell we’re in a bad cap situation considering our “QB of the future” is on a rookie contract and our presumed starter is making the vet minimum. That’s terrible; boy I hope the guy who signed all those other contracts isn’t making big decisions for the team…
The cap last year was $280. KAM spent $350. The only way to do so is by allocating money into future cap years, similar to buying a couch with zero money down.
Look at the FAs (DTs) we got last year. We paid heavily for them This year is rebooting on the fly from that overindulgence.
Matthew 'm agreeing with you and hope your words will talk some folks off the ledge. Yikes it's rough out there.
Overall I think they did a much better job drafting last night than they did in round one. I'm still stinging from the Banks pick. I could see Orange being a more successful player in the NFL than Banks .... I really hope I'm wrong.
Regarding Greenard, all the reasoning on why they moved on from him makes sense. Although they didn't get the day two premium pick that they were looking for as a return. Bottom line is Brzezinski is a cap guy. Since he is in charge he's going to do what he can to straightened out the cap. The Greenard trade is a direct reflection of that.
Good teams win with good players in the trenches. The Viking draft may turn out to be really good, but not to exciting. Ho, Hum.