{"id":9097,"date":"2011-05-01T11:26:35","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T16:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=9097"},"modified":"2014-05-09T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T19:38:33","slug":"vikings-finish-draft-with-10-new-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2011\/05\/01\/vikings-finish-draft-with-10-new-players\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings finish draft with 10 new players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After having only two picks over the first two days of the draft, the Vikings were much busier on the final day of the draft:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Round 4 (106th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>Christian Ballard<\/strong>, Defensive lineman, Iowa.<br \/>With the Vikings&#8217; Kevin Williams potentially facing a four-game suspension (and Pat Williams now a free agent), Ballard will have a chance to showcase his abilities early in the season. He was initially projected as a second round pick, but he slid down to the fourth round due to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/121033619.html\" target=\"_blank\">a reported failed drug test<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Round 5 (139th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>Brandon Burton<\/strong>, Cornerback, Utah.<br \/>Cornerback is definitely a position that needs bolstering: Griffin and Cook both ended last season on injured reserve, and Winfield (while still a great player) is nearing the end of his career. Burton may push Asher Allen for a roster spot, although he has a reputation for a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/blogs\/121025449.html\" target=\"_blank\">soft playing style<\/a> according to <em>Pro Football Weekly<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Round 6 (168th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>DeMarcus Love<\/strong>, Offensive tackle\/guard, Arkansas.<br \/>Another player who may have a chance to work his way into the starting line-up. Protecting the quarterback is always important, but with either Joe Webb or Christian Ponder under centre, it becomes that much more necessary. According to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/blogs\/121027544.html\" target=\"_blank\">Chip Scoggins<\/a>, his versatility along the line is probably why the Vikings chose to draft him.<\/li>\n<li>Round 6 (170th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>Mistral Raymond<\/strong>, Defensive back, South Florida.<br \/>Safety is another area in need of more depth. Raymond could push the incumbent players, or even displace one of them with a strong showing in training camp. Raymond has had a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/121035699.html\" target=\"_blank\">tough time<\/a> in his family life over the last few years.<\/li>\n<li>Round 6 (172nd pick overall) &mdash; <strong>Brandon Fusco<\/strong>, Center\/guard, Slippery Rock.<br \/>Another versatile offensive line player can always find a roster spot. Sullivan played injured for most of last season, so having a backup centre who can also play other line positions is great for depth. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/blogs\/121028284.html\" target=\"_blank\">Judd Zulgad<\/a> believes he&#8217;s going to end up on the practice squad this season.<\/li>\n<li>Round 6 (200th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>Ross Homan<\/strong>, Linebacker, Ohio State.<br \/>The Vikings may lose outside linebacker Ben Leber to free agency (once that starts), so <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/blogs\/121029334.html\" target=\"_blank\">having another linebacker in camp<\/a> is a need they address with this pick.<\/li>\n<li>Round 7 (215th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>D&#8217;Aundre Reed<\/strong>, Defensive end, Arizona.<br \/>Another position that may be opening due to free agency loss. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/blogs\/121030398.html\" target=\"_blank\">Judd Zulgad<\/a> isn&#8217;t too impressed: &#8220;All I can think is the Vikings are either convinced Griffen is going to get his act together, they are planning on starting Robison at left end or they are convinced we&#8217;re going to play under the 2010 CBA and Edwards will be back because if that&#8217;s the case he will be a restricted free agent. Reed looks like a practice squad guy to me.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Round 7 (236th pick overall) &mdash; <strong>Stephen Burton<\/strong>, Wide receiver, West Texas A&amp;M.<br \/>With Sidney Rice potentially leaving in free agency, the Vikings have a need for another receiver. Brief write-up on Burton <a href=\"http:\/\/www.startribune.com\/sports\/vikings\/blogs\/121031434.html\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Unlike in previous years, where the draft is immediately followed by teams signing lots of undrafted free agents, the NFL&#8217;s labour situation prevents that until the new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place (or the courts rule in a way to allow free agency to begin).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After having only two picks over the first two days of the draft, the Vikings were much busier on the final day of the draft: Round 4 (106th pick overall) &mdash; Christian Ballard, Defensive lineman, Iowa.With the Vikings&#8217; Kevin Williams potentially facing a four-game suspension (and Pat Williams now a free agent), Ballard will have [&hellip;]<\/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":[126,179,960],"class_list":["post-9097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-nfldraft"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-2mJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097","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=9097"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25616,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9097\/revisions\/25616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}