Team-by-Team Draft Recap: Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings may have finished fourth in the NFC North last year, disappointing fantasy owners along the way. Don’t let that bit of nasty business fool you, because their future has promise. This would be especially so if they nailed the draft. Did GM Rick Spielman succeed? Read on to find out.
Teddy Bridgewater, QB MIN
This pick leaves me in a bit of a quandary. Coming into the draft, Bridgewater was my favorite quarterback, but my ranking was not without a couple caveats: he needed to land in the right offense and preferably somewhere warm and sunny. Unfortunately, Minnesota posts a big fat “not exactly” in both regards.
It has been beaten into the ground at this point, but Bridgewater’s small hands become a greater concern in inclement weather. (If you don’t believe hand size can matter, ask any Vikings fan how they felt about Dante Culpepper’s ability to hold on to the rock). More worrying to me, though, will be his ability to drive the ball in the cold and wind. I don’t need my quarterbacks to have a Brett Favre-like cannon, but most characterize Bridgewater’s arm strength as adequate. I personally wouldn’t consider his right arm as ideal for the situation, especially with the Vikings leaving the cozy confines of the Metrodome for the harsh open air climate of the Upper Midwest.
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All is not lost, as Teddy does have a number of top-notch weapons to work with. Those of you who’ve read what I’ve written previously on the topic, know how much I like Greg Jennings the next few seasons. Oh, and there is this guy named Cordarrelle that folks seem to love. (Me? Not so much.) The Vikings also have Kyle Rudolph and his heap of untapped potential, Jarius Wright, who is a quiet threat to benefit the most from Turner’s Air Coryell system, and some scrub named Adrian Peterson. Hopefully our subject can get past Matt Cassel and capitalize on Jennings’ and Peterson’s talents before they age out of the league.
Teddy’s best landing spot promised to be a West Coast type system that relied on the strengths he exhibited on film. Instead, he will be working under one of the great deep ball coordinators of the last 25 years in Norv Turner. It will be interesting to see if Turner is willing and able to adapt to his new toy’s strengths and not expect it to be the other way around.
Jerick McKinnon, RB MIN
McKinnon to Minnesota was one of the more intriguing picks of this entire draft. By now we are all well aware of his stellar combine showing, as he posted perhaps the best overall results at the running back position. What made me raise my eyebrow about the pick is how nearly every single one of his deficiencies is a strength of his new Hall of Fame mentor, Adrian Peterson. Here is the list of common knocks on the former Georgia Southern athlete: Cuts back too readily, doesn’t show enough effort after contact and despite great upper body strength, lacks leg drive. If you had to pick a player to let McKinnon learn from, could have you found a better one?
The biggest roadblock to McKinnon being a fantasy asset is his lack of experience at the position. He spent most of his career as a triple-option quarterback. All things considered, there are more difficult transitions to make in the NFL, but his rawness is certainly a sticking point. For McKinnon to have success as a lead back, he will need to show significant improvement to the aforementioned areas as well as to his vision, pass blocking and pass catching.
If McKinnon were asked to play heavy snaps out of the gate, I’d be more concerned, but because he seems to have landed in an ideal situation, I have a bit more faith in his long term outlook. Just don’t expect immediate results.
David Yankey, Guard
Yankey may not be the most exciting topic, but he may not be an insignificant one either. Generally speaking, the offensive line was a strength for Minnesota last year, but they did have a soft spot at left guard. The culprit, Charlie Johnson, graded out at #52 among guards according to Pro Football Focus. He fared even worse as a run blocker, which just happens to be where Yankey is likeliest to excel in the NFL. The Stanford product is a huge, mauling player with the ability to block downhill in the run game. If this sounds perfect for a team with Adrian Peterson in the backfield, that’s because it is.
Yankey will need to prove himself a serviceable pass protector, which considering sub-par athleticism could be an issue. In the event he lands the gig, it won’t do anything but help buoy the prospects for AP.
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