Grading The Vikings 2015 Draft

[Demi]

If he was a surefire first round talent, he would have been drafted in the first round.

It's amazing how many seasons we get all these "X round" talents in a later round.

The one thing we *know* is that these players were picked where they were, by us, Kendricks was a 2nd round talent *at best*. At worst? We don't know where he would have went. Every season it seems we get a few "steals of the draft". And then they get caught at an airport with a whizzanator....

I'd love to see one of these steals in the pro bowl at some point.

[losperros]

Open question: Would you grade this draft any differently if Leslie Frazier was still head coach?

Interesting question and I don't have a good answer, partly because I believe the philosophies differ between Zimmer and Frazier.

As it is, I like this draft and the picks for this Zimmer team.

Would a Frazier team have the exact same needs and/or made the same picks if he was still the HC? I don't think so.

[Cliff]

Open question: Would you grade this draft any differently if Leslie Frazier was still head coach?

I think the question really amounts to "is Waynes a good pick overall or strictly because he seems like a good fit in Zimmer's defense"? In that regard, I'm not sure it would have been the same value under Fraizer.

I would also have less faith in Fraizer being able to take a more raw player like Waynes and molding him into the kind of defensive back I want the Vikings to have (More Rhodes than Winfield).

[Texas Vike]

It's amazing how many seasons we get all these "X round" talents in a later round.

The one thing we *know* is that these players were picked where they were, by us, Kendricks was a 2nd round talent *at best*. At worst? We don't know where he would have went. Every season it seems we get a few "steals of the draft". And then they get caught at an airport with a whizzanator....

I'd love to see one of these steals in the pro bowl at some point.

"Whizzinatorgate"

[dkoby]

I'm going to piggyback Jim's last post a bit, because he uses the same grading scale that I do.

It's not that I hate any selection - quite the opposite, in fact. I'm not a fan of the Hunter pick, but I see why it could be a good pick down the road. I'm not as sold on the Waynes pick, and I think there were a few other corners that could easily be as good as him, but I'm tentatively optimistic that he can be a great fit in our defense (although I do take a bit of exception to the notion that he's a "perfect fit" for our defense - I saw on many reports that he struggled with slants but excelled in press and deep zone. He would be a perfect fit in Seattle's defense, but in our defense he still has some things to prove).

Basically, I give this draft a C+ as Jim did because I don't have supreme confidence in any one player. I've felt for the past three years the Vikings deserved B+ at worst (and it's not just because of the extra first rounders, I was pretty high on 2011 when we got Ponder/Rudolph early and circled around and got Fusco late...unfortunately, depending on Rudolph's health, only 1 of those picks turned out well), but in this year's draft I feel like we had nothing spectacular and nothing head-scratching. It was just a league average draft in my opinion. Now I'm ready to see how it works out.

I hope that clarifies my position a bit.

I don't disagree with anything that anyone has really said or their evaluation, but what I underlined is something that needs to be looked at. We don't really know exactly what the defense is supposed to look like because Zimmer is not done building it yet. even the draft picks that they took may not be exactly what they really want, but represent the closest thing that was available when they picked. All needs, need to be prioritized and if the best fitting player had been taken, I assume the next best[ b]fit[/b] was drafted. I myself thought the Hunter pick was a bit high for a project, but I trust this coaching staff. Because Zimmer waited until the 11th hour in last years preseason to name a SS, I just assumed that he wasn't really all that impressed with any of them. It's one of the reasons I assumed they would target one early in this years draft. But, you know what happens when you assume.

Another take on this is that by drafting more projects and waiting for them to develope, I think most fans are willing to give the GM/coaching staff a bit longer of a rope, so to speak, before calling for their ouster should the team fare poorly.

[mansquatch]

The Frasier question is a good one and the answer for me is YES. The reason is Frasier's long history of developing CBs. The secondary under Frasier was abysmal other than one OK year in 2012. I will admit that a lot of this had to do with injuries, but irrespective the results were all around terrible, which is ever worse when you consider that Frasier was considered a defensive minded coach. That history would fuel skepticism and doubt for me and at this point grading a draft it is all about expectation, so Frasier would be graded differently.

Whether that is rational or not is frankly irrelevant.

[Pondering Her Percy]

It's amazing how many seasons we get all these "X round" talents in a later round.

The one thing we *know* is that these players were picked where they were, by us, Kendricks was a 2nd round talent *at best*. At worst? We don't know where he would have went. Every season it seems we get a few "steals of the draft". And then they get caught at an airport with a whizzanator....

I'd love to see one of these steals in the pro bowl at some point.

Just because he was picked in the second doesn't necessarily mean he's a second round talent. Do you realize how many players out there have had first round talent and went in the second round or later?? The list would take years to type. Teams could have easily had him high on their boards and first round worthy but someone else must have been a little higher. I don't know how you're going to sit there and say he's a "second round talent at best" when he was the best LB in college football last year. My guess is you don't have anything to back up him being a "second round talent at best" but I wouldn't expect any different. If you want to go and read up on him quick and try to get back at me, I probably won't buy it.

He's the most athletic MLB in this draft, easily the best cover LB in this draft and is top 3, at worst, in run defense. But somehow he's not first round worthy? Like I said, he could have easily been high on a lot of boards which I'm sure he was, it's just they simply liked someone else better or he didn't necessarily fit a need

Also I don't really recall anyone going crazy about "steals in the draft" the past few years. I feel like that's you just putting words in people's mouths.