The brilliance of Rick Spielman on Day One

[Pondering Her Percy]

One thing I have noticed with Spielman is that he has gotten better and better every year. He has learned from his mistakes and his days in Miami.

I was in constant argument towards the end of last season because guys on here were shredding Spielman for our poor season. However, he has done a great job drafting the past few years. I will continue to put more of the blame on that staff of degenerates we have had the past few years before I blame Spielman.

I continued to stress that Spielman didn't have FULL control until 2012 and many didn't buy it, but to be honest....has anyone noticed the difference with our drafting and quality of draft picks since the 2012 draft?? They might be 3 of the better drafts we have had in our franchises history. Granted, some guys still have a long way to go to prove themselves but my point is, how we approach the draft now is so much better than it was before.

Spielman has made sure to get extra 1st round picks the past 3 years in order to get quality players and realizes the importance of getting that 5th year contract option so it shows that he is looking ahead.

He was able to get a lot of great value in the late rounds of this draft such as Yankey, Exum, and Stephen. That is something he didn't do as well in the past. I've stuck by Spielman since he has been the GM of this team and will continue to stick by him. I think he is a solid GM that is doing nothing but improving every year and the coaching staff he put together impresses me that much more.

[Mothman]

One thing I have noticed with Spielman is that he has gotten better and better every year. He has learned from his mistakes and his days in Miami.

I was in constant argument towards the end of last season because guys on here were shredding Spielman for our poor season. However, he has done a great job drafting the past few years. I will continue to put more of the blame on that staff of degenerates we have had the past few years before I blame Spielman.

Wow, I know you didn't like them but that seems a bit extreme.

I do think Spielman has been doing a pretty good job though.

[mondry]

Wow, I know you didn't like them but that seems a bit extreme.

I do think Spielman has been doing a pretty good job though.

For real, Frazier was / is a class act and a great person. He simply wasn't the right guy to lead us to a championship, gotta remember this is a game after all.

I do agree that I think Spielman is improving and it does look a lot better now that he's in full control. We're not trading up for Tjacksons or Gerharts anymore, most of the time every pick is either legit BPA or good value.

[Demi]

I continued to stress that Spielman didn't have FULL control until 2012 and many didn't buy it, but to be honest....has anyone noticed the difference with our drafting and quality of draft picks since the 2012 draft?? They might be 3 of the better drafts we have had in our franchises history. Granted, some guys still have a long way to go to prove themselves but my point is, how we approach the draft now is so much better than it was before.

What about 2011? Ponder was 100% on him. Before that when he didn't have control, we drafted two rookie of the years in Percy and AD.

As far as the 2012/2013 drafts. Some guys have shown flashes. But are you really ready to draw any conclusions? Kalil had a damn good rookie year, but regressed last year. Smith the same, part of which was probably injuries. We had 3 1st round picks last year, all of which had up and down moments, no where near enough of either to go either way.

7 first round picks in 3 years.
In 2 or 3 years we damn well better be fighting for control of the division. With a new coaching staff, including a defensive and offensive veteran who've shown they can coach. Including improving players, if Spielman got them the right guys, they sure as #### are going to be able to use them.

We'll see, but right now I find it hard to judge him either positively or negatively after what he's done since 2011. But with his track record before that, and the teams record up until this season, the needle has to be pointing down for anyone looking at it objectively. From here on out it might change, but it's entirely possible it won't, and we'll be looking for a new GM, and possibly coaching staff, in two or three years...

It looks promising so far, but looking and being are two entirely different things...and if anyone hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt it's Spielman.

[Texas Vike]

Wow, I know you didn't like them but that seems a bit extreme.

I do think Spielman has been doing a pretty good job though.

Degenerate is just the wrong word for Frazier and his staff.

[Demi]

As far as "brilliance", we'll see, but he's the one trading into the first repeatedly. Where other teams haven't been. Is he on the cutting edge, or is he just reaching and losing picks overall to do it? A number of teams, including the Patriots (easy for them to do) trade down and pick up more picks. He does the opposite. Is he brilliant, or just incompetent?

[Pondering Her Percy]

Degenerate is just the wrong word for Frazier and his staff.

Is clueless coaches better? Granted, Frazier is a great guy and all but wasn't the right man for the job and his OC and DC were as clueless as they come.

[Pondering Her Percy]

What about 2011? Ponder was 100% on him. Before that when he didn't have control, we drafted two rookie of the years in Percy and AD.

I'm referring to when he was granted full control and that was prior to the 2012 draft. Whether Ponder is on him or not, it is always going to be an ongoing battle. However, since 2012, he has gotten better and better IMO.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Wow, I know you didn't like them but that seems a bit extreme.

I do think Spielman has been doing a pretty good job though.

Sorry it was the first word that came to mind

[mosscarter]

everyone seems to forget that in 2011 there were two other horrific qb's actually taken before ponder that year. it happens, sometimes people make bad picks. i liked last year's draft and so far this one seems promising. it will ultimately come down to teddy and something tells me manziel is going to do well. i just hope we aren't in here 5 years from now talking about how we "passed on manziel."

[Slick Rick]

I don't think the number of picks has anything to do with anything, its who you pick, not how many. As I explained in the original post, to get top guys in their positions, top ranked guys overall for this draft, and two glaring needs, all in one night is impressive. Unfortunately not sure if we can judge last year's first round just yet. Well, Patterson seems to be living up to the hype, but Xavier was stuck in a scheme that didn't suit him for most of last season, so we'll probably know what we have this year with him. As for Floyd, he seems to be leaning more towards bust than Pro Bowler, but again the scheme and coaching was pretty bad last year with a lot of mismanagement so I won't write him off just yet.

But overall, there's nothing wrong with trading into the first round, it just matters who you get for it right? 2012 gave us Matt Kalil (Pro Bowler) and Harrison Smith (stud), 2011 gave us Ponder (awful), 2010 traded us out of the 1st, 2009 had Percy Harvin, 2007 was Adrian Peterson, and 2006 was Chad Greenway. Not a bad group of 1st rounders.

It's about optimizing your chances of getting good players, so having a bunch of picks definitely helps with accomplishing that. I think getting 10 picks while still getting 2 firsts is a good start. If 5 of them turn out to be good players in some capacity, then it'll be a pretty good draft. No one gets good players with every single 3rd-7th round pick. They might get some key contributors on special teams here, or a good backup QB there, but you'd rather that be the case in the later rounds. If you've got 2 firsts you have 2 chances at getting not just good players, but potentially elite talents. I think it's smart to do as long as you do it the right way. I think the Vikes do, they get athletic guys with high ceilings, but they're going to have to prove it. This is their year. There are no excuses for Spielman anymore. This team is talented, they've got some of the best coaches, and they've got the best player in football.

[Texas Vike]

Is clueless coaches better? Granted, Frazier is a great guy and all but wasn't the right man for the job and his OC and DC were as clueless as they come.

If you think that he is a great guy, then "degenerate" is not the word you were looking for. Clueless or incompetent seems to be what you were after.

[mmvikes]

One thing I have noticed with Spielman is that he has gotten better and better every year. He has learned from his mistakes and his days in Miami.

I was in constant argument towards the end of last season because guys on here were shredding Spielman for our poor season. However, he has done a great job drafting the past few years. I will continue to put more of the blame on that staff of degenerates we have had the past few years before I blame Spielman.

I continued to stress that Spielman didn't have FULL control until 2012 and many didn't buy it, but to be honest....has anyone noticed the difference with our drafting and quality of draft picks since the 2012 draft?? They might be 3 of the better drafts we have had in our franchises history. Granted, some guys still have a long way to go to prove themselves but my point is, how we approach the draft now is so much better than it was before.

Spielman has made sure to get extra 1st round picks the past 3 years in order to get quality players and realizes the importance of getting that 5th year contract option so it shows that he is looking ahead.

He was able to get a lot of great value in the late rounds of this draft such as Yankey, Exum, and Stephen. That is something he didn't do as well in the past. I've stuck by Spielman since he has been the GM of this team and will continue to stick by him. I think he is a solid GM that is doing nothing but improving every year and the coaching staff he put together impresses me that much more.

I have been saying the same thing about Spielman. The drafts have been completely different since he was named GM. That in and of itself should be enough to realize he did not have complete control prior. I also think he did a great job in the coaching search and hire. This is the first coach I have been exited about since Bud. Not that they were all bad. Jerry Burns did a good job. Dennis Green was a very good regular season coach who sucked in the playoffs. I just couldn't get exited about a coach who had lost so consistently with Northwestern. Tice wasn't given a chance. They had dumped Randy and gave him a staff smaller than my son's high school football team. Chiller was an OC who didn't call the plays for his own offense. I felt Frazier was just hired to oversee the rebuild for a couple of years. The Zimmer hire I love. Codos to Rick on that also.

[mansquatch]

I actually think the NFL is learning from 2011 collectively and the view on the value of QBs is changing due to the risk/reward aspects of the position. Teams are realizing that blowing a top 10 pick just because a guy is a QB has many long term consequences. I think that is part of why Manziel and Bridgewater fell as far as they did. Of couse, I'm just speculating...

One thing that seems to be apparent with Spielman's strategy is the idea that 1st round picks tend to stick on your roster a lot more than lower round guys, at least in terms of probability. My guess is this is part of the reason we have 7 1st round picks in the past 3 drats. Rick should enjoy this market while he can, I suspect that if hte VIkings start winning more, attention is going to get paid to his mechanations on draft day and the value of the trades will change.

[Eli]

I wouldn't say that. QB is still the most important position on the field, by a significant margin. I would say that Spielman has learned a little by the Ponder failure, but I think he's also under the gun and well aware of the fact that he doesn't get any more chances. That may have made him more than a little gun shy about drafting a QB at number eight.