{"id":31170,"date":"2015-04-29T03:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T07:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=31170"},"modified":"2015-04-28T07:30:48","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T11:30:48","slug":"id-be-delighted-if-this-mock-draft-turns-out-to-be-close-to-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2015\/04\/29\/id-be-delighted-if-this-mock-draft-turns-out-to-be-close-to-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"I’d be delighted if this mock draft turns out to be close to reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Ryan Boser<\/a> guest-posts a mock draft at Vikings Territory<\/em> that would just bowl me over on draft weekend. It’s got a little bit of everything, and it’s based on the demonstrated draft tendencies of “Trader” Rick Spielman. It includes a higher-than-expected result from trading Adrian Peterson, along with movement up and down to accumulate more picks and sneak back into the bottom of the first round for that coveted fifth-year option:<\/p>\n

The Vikings enter the draft with seven selections:<\/p>\n

1(11)
\n2(45)
\n3(76)
\n4(110)
\n5(137)
\n7(228)
\n7(232)<\/p>\n

This is not enough. We know Rick wants nine or 10 picks. He\u2019s traded back one spot with Cleveland in two of his last three drafts, and they\u2019re ripe for the picking again at No. 12. However, he\u2019ll need to slide back a bit further to acquire requisite ammunition, and for a team with numerous needs, it\u2019s a flatter tier\u2014the value of pick 11 isn\u2019t much different from the value of pick 16.<\/p>\n

TRADE: Minnesota sends 1(11) to Houston for 1(16), 3(82) and 4(116)<\/strong><\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

TRADE: Minnesota sends Adrian Peterson to Arizona for 1(24)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve long been of the belief that bridges have been burned, and this whole process has been another \u201cwe have no intent of trading Percy Harvin\u201d dog and pony show. Thankfully, Rick is a master of creating trade markets out of thin air.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if it\u2019ll be Arizona, Dallas, or one of the longer shots. What I do know is that Rick\u2019s still stacking his chips from the Harvin trade, while simultaneously playing the Peterson suitors against each other. I think he ultimately gets his R1 pick (maybe more?), and another standing ovation.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Hey, let\u2019s make a pick!<\/p>\n

1(16) Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia; 6\u20191\u201d, 222<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know that Spielman is fearlessly aggressive with offensive weapons early in the draft. This dates back to his very first selection as VP of Player Personnel, when he took an \u201cinjury-prone\u201d Adrian Peterson, despite urgent defensive needs and Chester Taylor coming off a 1,500-YFS season in Year 1 of a 4-year contract.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

1(24) Marcus Peters, CB, Washington; 6\u20190\u201d, 197<\/strong><\/p>\n

We know Spielman really values DBs, and he\u2019ll get no argument from HC Mike Zimmer. Peters, who\u2019s met privately with the Vikings, is widely believed to be the best cover corner in the draft. While he comes with some Harvin-esque character\/authority issues, Zimmer has made lemonade out of worse (Pacman Jones and Vontaze Burfict, to name two). The team has also shown Pro Day interest in fellow CBs Byron Jones and Kevin Johnson. Depending on availability, one of the three would be the pick here, and would make a dreamy tandem with budding superstar Xavier Rhodes.<\/p>\n

TRADE: Minnesota sends 2(45) and 3(76) to Indianapolis for 1(29) and 5(165)<\/strong><\/p>\n

You knew better than to go to sleep. Rick loves his fifth-year options, as he\u2019s proven by trading back into the end of R1 in three straight drafts. He\u2019s made seven R1 picks in the last three years (2, 3, 2), with only one coming from an original Vikings draft slot, so we\u2019re right on trend here.<\/p>\n

1(29) Eric Kendricks, LB, UCLA; 6\u20190\u201d, 232<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kendricks is in play for the Packers at 30, so 29 is probably the necessary destination. Although the 2014 Butkus Award winner is a bit undersized, he\u2019s extremely intelligent, instinctive and aggressive. Whether he remains inside or moves to WILL, Kendricks quenches the team\u2019s most desperate thirst, and allows Zimmer full freedom to deploy his bazooka (Anthony Barr) however he pleases.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Your 2015 Minnesota Vikings Draft Class:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1(16)* HOU \u2013 Todd Gurley, RB
\n1(24)* ARI \u2013 Marcus Peters, CB
\n1(29)* IND \u2013 Eric Kendricks, LB
\n3(82)* HOU \u2013 Tre McBride, WR
\n4(110) \u2013 Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, DB
\n4(116)* HOU \u2013 Za\u2019Darius Smith, DE
\n5(137) \u2013 Mitch Morse, G
\n5(165)* IND \u2013 Chaz Green, T
\n7(228) \u2013 Bryce Hager, LB
\n7(232) \u2013 Trevor Pardula, P<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryan Boser guest-posts a mock draft at Vikings Territory that would just bowl me over on draft weekend. It’s got a little bit of everything, and it’s based on the demonstrated draft tendencies of “Trader” Rick Spielman. It includes a higher-than-expected result from trading Adrian Peterson, along with movement up and down to accumulate more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[227,126,179,960],"class_list":["post-31170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","tag-adrianpeterson","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-nfldraft"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-86K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31172,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31170\/revisions\/31172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}