** Official 2013 Draft Thread **

[Skoltastic_Voyage]

Uh, no. Don't even bring up the political stuff. If that was mostly the case, then the Vikings administration is just plain stupid.

They drafted a punter because their new darling special teams coordinator wants a kid who will listen to him and it worked once before. Kluwe, despite having an off year, is still one of the top 5 or 6 punters in the league if you take all of his punting stats into account. He shanked a couple of punts and every fan that disagreed with his political beliefs began screeching for his neck because they saw a "legitimate" reason to stick it to him. Even the best punters shank a punt from time to time.

That's pretty much the end all/be all of the matter.

I think it was a wasted pick. They should have selected a guard to help out along the line. But Priefer wants a kid who will reply to everything he says with a resounding and sincere "yes sir!" because he's a rookie and fearful for his job.

Everyone seems to agree with me... I think I'm right about the issues being part of it. You're probably right about it being a wasted pick we could of moved up in the 6th to get him if he is what we wanted.

[Crax]

he had his highest net yrds per punt this last season. Its not like he got worse. 5th seems too high for a punter after trading our other mid picks

[dead_poet]

he had his highest net yrds per punt this last season. Its not like he got worse. 5th seems too high for a punter after trading or other mid picks

Didn't Carolina spend a third on one last year?

[S197]

Didn't Carolina spend a third on one last year?

Jacksonville. See youtube video

[saint33]

well Detroit just picked one no ones ever heard of. Probably would have taken Locke if we didn't

[Skoltastic_Voyage]

^ what he just said.... beat me to it

[Crax]

Could have. I thought it was Jacksonville though.

[Purple Domination]

CBS Sports apparently had him projected in round 3-4 Kid runs a 4.82 40.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/play ... jeff-locke

[Rus]

this

That's silly, no offense Dan.

The guy has been ranked among the top 5 punters in the NFC for years. He had an off season, but his hang time went up. Marginal players are guys like Leo Araguz who drift from team to team.

A big factor that goes into punting is the ability of the offense to move the ball into a spot that is "ideal" for pinning it into the 20 (we're talking getting up to the 50 yard line or better here). If the team has a lot of three and outs, it has a direct effect on whether or not a punter is going to be able to do that or if he just has to slam it as hard as he can. Kluwe's hang time stats went up over last season's, even though his I20 stats went down. I think for anyone who watched, that's pretty self explanatory.

Most fans don't check their punter's stats against the rest of the league. Everyone thinks their punter is the worst punter unless they see his picture in the "top 5 punters" list on ESPN. And if a punter shanks one or two during the season, that's all the fans remember. And they often rank it against the average punt distance, which also is directly affected by the capabilities of the coverage teams and the ability to move the ball into a good spot. If you're stuck slamming a lot of punts, you're going to get better hang time and maybe distance stats but it's going to be harder to cover the guy who's returning the punts against you because your cover team will have more distance to cover.

[Rus]

CBS Sports apparently had him projected in round 3-4 Kid runs a 4.82 40.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/play ... jeff-locke

What, is he a fake punt specialist or something?

One thing people also should remember...Kluwe is our pro bowl kicker's holder. Changing holders sometimes is really, really bad for young kickers. You'd be surprised. There's a lot of superstition, timing, preferred positioning/angle/thread directional stuff that kickers get weird about.

[akvikingsfan]

And the Dolphins just took a Kicker.

[Angels Wings]

Tom Pelissero ‏@TomPelissero 2m

Just talked to Chris Kluwe. Says he has every intention of telling the #Vikings he still wants to be here, try to keep the job.

[Angels Wings]

Tom Pelissero ‏@TomPelissero 56s

Kluwe: "If they don’t know my character by now, then they’re probably not ever going to figure it out. I’m here to compete."

[Eli]

Someone clue me in on all these grab-your-shoulder references in reference to punters and kickers...

[VikingLord]

Spielman is drafting guys he feels can not only make the team, but be starters. In the 5th round, if that's the type of player you're looking for you're probably not going to find too many players left that are starters. Punter is one position where you can given that he's the best at his position and you know you need one.

Kluwe may very well become expendable because of this move, but the move itself I think was more driven by Spielman weighing the relative value than political activity/beliefs or any other reason. He got himself a guy who can start next year as a pure punter, or can also do kickoffs if they want Walsh to focus on field goals.