2.45 Vikings select LB- Eric Kendricks UCLA

[mansquatch]

It is hard to not be excited for the quality of defense the Vikings have the potential to field in 2015. I hope Barr and Kendricks deliver some serious hits this season.

[PacificNorseWest]

It is hard to not be excited for the quality of defense the Vikings have the potential to field in 2015. I hope Barr and Kendricks deliver some serious hits this season.

Hits? In the NFL? Nah...

[dead_poet]

It is hard to not be excited for the quality of defense the Vikings have the potential to field in 2015. I hope Barr and Kendricks deliver some serious hits this season.

And Smith.

[Dirtyswabby]

This is without a doubt my favorite pick of the Draft. This guy has instincts, you cannot teach instinct. I think he will be the steal of the draft.

[PurpleMustReign]

And Smith.

And Griffen.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[fiestavike]

And Griffen.

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and Rhodes (dude can hit)

[DK Sweets]

And Marcus Sherels.

[fiestavike]

And Marcus Sherels.

LOL.

begin rant/
I was just thinking today about what a terrible job the local media has done by focusing so little on a guy like Marcus Sherels over the years. I think they are all afraid to be seen as going "all in" on a longshot player. Maybe it would be too much like a 'fan' to focus on fan favorites? In any case, that has been a fascinating story about a guy who obviously has some incredible football character that just hasn't been covered in depth. With the way media is going, and everything NFL being national news, you'd think some local news source would get the bright idea to focus more on those guys who are under the radar. Thielan and Sherels are obvious choices because of local connection. What about Bykowski...a local guy singled out by Zimmer this offseason. MMQB kinda did this with Zach Line and it was great. I want to know more about these guys. Its just odd to me that while the national media is reporting everything about Peterson or the draft, they don't break from the crowd and make themselves standout with a great in depth report on another player. Honestly, the girl at Vikingsterritory probably has the best write up of Babatunde to date. Seems to me the established guys are going to wind up without a territory, as ESPN eats up the national news and the blogs continue to improve and satiate the hardcore and local fans.
/end rant

[Mothman]

LOL.

begin rant/
I was just thinking today about what a terrible job the local media has done by focusing so little on a guy like Marcus Sherels over the years. I think they are all afraid to be seen as going "all in" on a longshot player. Maybe it would be too much like a 'fan' to focus on fan favorites? In any case, that has been a fascinating story about a guy who obviously has some incredible football character that just hasn't been covered in depth. With the way media is going, and everything NFL being national news, you'd think some local news source would get the bright idea to focus more on those guys who are under the radar. Thielan and Sherels are obvious choices because of local connection. What about Bykowski...a local guy singled out by Zimmer this offseason. MMQB kinda did this with Zach Line and it was great. I want to know more about these guys. Its just odd to me that while the national media is reporting everything about Peterson or the draft, they don't break from the crowd and make themselves standout with a great in depth report on another player. Honestly, the girl at Vikingsterritory probably has the best write up of Babatunde to date. Seems to me the established guys are going to wind up without a territory, as ESPN eats up the national news and the blogs continue to improve and satiate the hardcore and local fans.
/end rant

Chip Scoggins wrote a column about him last year that may shed some light on why Sherels hasn't received more coverage. Apparently, it's difficult to get him to say much about himself:

http://www.startribune.com/scoggins-und ... 286844471/

I do see your point though. It would be nice if some of the "unsung heroes" and role-players on the team received more in-depth coverage from the local media.

[fiestavike]

[

Chip Scoggins wrote a column about him last year that may shed some light on why Sherels hasn't received more coverage. Apparently, it's difficult to get him to say much about himself:

http://www.startribune.com/scoggins-und ... 286844471/

I do see your point though. It would be nice if some of the "unsung heroes" and role-players on the team received more in-depth coverage from the local media.

And that was really good!

thanks Moth.

It raises another point, which is that writing a column about a guy who doesn't "write it for you" with his play on the field or his off the field antics, also takes a lot more work. Even if, in this case, its taking the time to conduct a simple poll. Probably the biggest reason that most of the press is about players who have big names and big story lines.

[S197]

LOL.

begin rant/
I was just thinking today about what a terrible job the local media has done by focusing so little on a guy like Marcus Sherels over the years. I think they are all afraid to be seen as going "all in" on a longshot player. Maybe it would be too much like a 'fan' to focus on fan favorites? In any case, that has been a fascinating story about a guy who obviously has some incredible football character that just hasn't been covered in depth. With the way media is going, and everything NFL being national news, you'd think some local news source would get the bright idea to focus more on those guys who are under the radar. Thielan and Sherels are obvious choices because of local connection. What about Bykowski...a local guy singled out by Zimmer this offseason. MMQB kinda did this with Zach Line and it was great. I want to know more about these guys. Its just odd to me that while the national media is reporting everything about Peterson or the draft, they don't break from the crowd and make themselves standout with a great in depth report on another player. Honestly, the girl at Vikingsterritory probably has the best write up of Babatunde to date. Seems to me the established guys are going to wind up without a territory, as ESPN eats up the national news and the blogs continue to improve and satiate the hardcore and local fans.
/end rant

Mr. Mankato gets a lot of press but I think unfortunately for Sherels, that was Thielen last year. I agree that the guy has a ton of heart and always seems to be giving it 100%. Unfortunately I think he's been with the team too long to get the Mr. Mankato designation this year, especially with all the youth that has been infused over the past couple years.

[jackal]

I like lunch pale type guy who just come in and do their jobs ...

Sauce was a great Viking and he just did his job really well
and left it at that.

kudos for Sherels .. for doing this

[Raptorman]

All fan allegiance aside, I think its pretty silly to say the reigning number 1 scoring offense in the league "might" have a good offense. jmo tho.

While I'm not exactly sold all the way with the direction TT is trying to go with this defense, I disagree entirely with your slow and reactive sentiment, I think, if anything, Thompson has showed a continued assertion in finding athletic ability to build an athletic defense. As I said, I'm not sold 100% on some of our recent decisions toward the defensive side of the ball, I just think that "Slow and reactive", would be an inaccurate way to describe it. I might also add that last year, your defense averaged 21.4 points per game, the Packers Defense was not far behind with 21.8

I agree with your Kendricks and Luke comparison as well, btw.

One thing about that high scoring offense last year. They scored big at home but on the road they were sub par. At home the Packers averaged 39.8 points per game. But on the road they only averaged 21.0 points per game. That is a huge swing.

[Jordysghost]

One thing about that high scoring offense last year. They scored big at home but on the road they were sub par. At home the Packers averaged 39.8 points per game. But on the road they only averaged 21.0 points per game. That is a huge swing.

Yea, thats how it worked out last year, but typically the Packers offense is rather pretty consistent home or away, as long as they have A-Rod there is really no cause for concern.

[808vikingsfan]

Nice highlight video. Shows how good his instincts are. Solid tackler too.

Really excited to see him in Purple.

Eric Kendricks UCLA Football 2014 Highlights