I see what you're saying now, because we would have had 4 additional players from those top 4 rounds and their possible production has to be accounted for.Eli wrote: In 2012 the Vikings gave up a 4th round pick (#98) to move up and take Harrison Smith.
In 2013 they traded a 3rd round (#83) and a 4th round (#120) pick to move up and take Cordarrelle Patterson.
In 2014 they traded a 4th round pick (#108) to move up and take Teddy Bridgewater.
That's four additional mid-round players that would likely be on the squad today. They may or may not have made the difference in the long run, but it just means that those draft picks need to produce all the more.
However, from a "league average" standpoint, they were able to move up in those drafts but still kept an average amount of picks.
In other words, while it's true that they would have had more bodies on the roster, the team isn't falling behind others as far as the number of selections from those rounds. To me it just seems like the team is using their extra picks to add more value to their higher picks.
It'll be interesting to see how the strategy pans out. They could end up wishing they had those 4 extra bodies instead of whoever they drafted.