May 1, 2006
"At Fork in the Road, Vikings Go Big, Then They Go Down Home" by Vikes Geek

As the Minnesota Vikings prepared for the 2006 NFL entry draft, the vast majority of Vikings’ fans predicted a nice haul in the draft. With five picks on day one, history supported such a sentiment. And with a draft replete with good talent deep into the first round—and numerous players that fit the Vikings’ draft needs likely to be available when the Vikings selected at seventeen—the Vikings appeared in position to make a draft move.

To some extent, the Vikings did what they needed to do in this draft. Entering the draft, the team’s greatest need was at middle linebacker. Three linebackers stood out as potentially filling this need—AJ Hawk, Ernie Sims, and Chad Greenway. Of the three, Hawk widely was regarded as the superior linebacker with Greenway and Sims close behind. But a case could be made that Greenway—with thirty-five more tackles than Hawk in 2005—was the best linebacker on the board, with Sims a distant third both as a player and as a person. That made landing Greenway at seventeen a nice, as well as a less expensive, catch.

The question for the Vikings is how soon it will take Greenway to move to the middle linebacker slot. Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress has indicated that Greenway will open camp as the starter at weak side linebacker with EJ Henderson manning the middle linebacker position and Ben Leber lining up at strong-side linebacker. If Greenway shows the aptitude for the game that he showed as a walk-on at Iowa, however, the linebacker alignment could change before the regular season begins and the Vikings could have one of the more solid linebacking corps in the NFL.

Another of the Vikings’ pressing needs was a role player in the secondary. The Vikings filled that need by selecting Texas cornerback Cedric Griffin. While Griffin probably will not draw comparisons to Deion Sanders any time soon, the Vikings drafted him to fill an immediate need that does not require star quality—the role of nickel cornerback. And with 86 tackles for the Longhorns last season, he should be more than suited to fill that role.

The Vikings’ selection of Griffin meant not only that the Vikings had filled their two remaining vacancies, but also that the team could turn its attention to upgrading positions for which they at least had a body penciled in as starter in 2006. That shift of attention led the Vikings back to their number one problem last season and gave Vikings’ fans their first real reason second-guess the Vikings’ draft triangle—a group that, through pick forty-eight, merely had followed virtually everybody’s big board.

Finding a Fork in It

Shortly after selecting Griffin, the Vikings reached a fork in the road. Holding the 51st pick, the Vikings still sought an offensive lineman, a backup quarterback, and another linebacker. With several talented offensive linemen still available the question for the Vikings was whether they preferred finesse or brute strength.

One option was Outland Trophy and Rimington Award winner Greg Eslinger from the University of Minnesota. The only player ever to be selected both the best interior lineman and the best center in college football, Eslinger appeared to be a good fit for the Vikings as his selection would allow the Vikings to move Birk to right guard and to interject some quickness into a line otherwise heavy of foot.

The Vikings took the road more traveled, however, foregoing drafting Eslinger in favor of drafting the much taller, weightier Ryan Cook out of New Mexico. While the knock on Eslinger is that he is too small, the knock on Cook is that he is too tall—ripping the tape at 6’7�.

The primary concern about the Vikings’ selection of Cook, however, is not that Cook is too tall to line up at center for Minnesota, but that the Vikings’ took the mammoth center far too early in the draft. With most experts having pegged Cook as a second-day selection, picking Cook in the middle of the 2nd round certainly looks like a reach. And if the Vikings truly could have had Cook in the fifth round—where he was projected to go—then the team blew the pick with respect to what they later had to pay to move up to take Tarvaris Jackson.

If Cook pans out, however, all probably will be forgotten about this gaffe—one that pales in comparison to previous draft-day gaffes—as Vikings’ fans predominantly will recall only that the Vikings obtained Cook somewhere in the 2006 draft. And if Cook pans out—as is also expected of Greenway and Griffin—the Vikings will be able to look back at the 2006 draft, in which the team had only one pick in the first forty-seven, as at least a satisfactory draft.

Up Next: Jackson and Change.

Posted by maasx003 at May 1, 2006 6:08 AM
Comments

VG,
Is it possible that the TOA got duped by another team in thinking that Cook would come off the board before one of their 3rd round picks? This is the real head-scratcher of the whole draft. I am not going to run around pulling my hair out because as you said, we may be able to look back at the pick and say "genius." It just seems like they wasted a third round pick in the way they handled the Cook, Jackson affair. A third round where quality players were possibly still on the board.
With that being said this was a different type of Vikings draft than what we expect because we have a TOA that picked for scheme more than overall talent. I think that is why we didn't see huge names come off the board in 2nd round and beyond. Time will tell.
-AJ

Posted by: ajj90 at May 1, 2006 6:34 AM

Well in hindsight I wish they would have taken Hodge. I never even heard of Cook but his size is... well let's say huge. To big for the offensive line? Never heard that before. Jackson I never heard of either, seems like a huge leap but I guess they met him and liked him. So all in all I will wait and see.

Posted by: Lonnie at May 1, 2006 7:26 AM

You also need to realize that they were only reaches if the draftniks were right and Cook and Jackson would have been available with the Vikes third round picks. Eslinger is a perfect example. You or CoD probably would have praised them for picked him at 51...and yet that would have been a MASSIVE reach - far bigger than Cook or Jackson. The market showed that Eslinger was a 6th round pick, no more. If the Vikings felt that Cook was a second round talent, and they thought others might too, their decision was reasonable.

Overall I give the Vikes a solid B. They had big gaps in LB, no depth in the OL, no third CB, and no QB of the future. They got 2 LBs (Blue may be switched to OLB), a starting nickel CB, a versatile 5/6th OL (Hicks), a OL potential, and a high boom/bust potential QB. They filled all of their holes with players they thought highly off. So they might have overspent a bit. At best they could have ended up with an extra third round pick - not a huge loss, although enough to drop them from an A to a B in my book.

Overall, what matters far more than how efficently they used their picks is how good their scouting is. If they have missed badly on Cook and Jackson it'll be a C/D draft, but because of scouting, not trades. And none of us are in a position to have a better idea than the triangle about the worth of those players.

I'm still thrilled we got Greenway. Half the mocks I saw had us missing him, and then who do we take? That alone made the draft at least a C.

Posted by: Lou at May 1, 2006 7:53 AM

I'm more than satisfied with the draft. We picked up two starters in Greenway and Hicks(trade). Griffin will challenge Smoot and be our 5th DB. Cook is going to play a couple positions and he's got something you can't teach....size.
Perhaps we stretched a little on Jackson, but he's going to be BC's little project.

Everyone has to step back and admit that they know little to nothing about most of these players and their values. I remember people on this site hoping the Vikes would draft Eslinger with one of their first two picks.

Posted by: pa viking at May 1, 2006 10:10 AM

Actually Eslinger was projected third round, everybody had him valued above Cook. Eslinger just ended up going in the 6th because he needs to be about 20-30lbs heavier to start in the NFL, but it sounds like he knows this and has been busy bulking up(put on at least 10 lbs before the combine). Would have been nice to have another ND native and University of Minnesota player, especially one some had rated as the #1 center in the draft.

Cooks considered a little too tall because his center of balance is higher off the ground than everybody, which makes him a bit easier to push around. But if he uses leverage right this shouldn't be a rpoblem. Maybe they picked Cook because they had him pegged as more versatile and more able to play the right side of the line.

Posted by: Jake at May 1, 2006 10:30 AM

Also, what's a bit confusing to me about Jackson is that he had his shot at Division I-A at the University of Arkansas in 2001 and 2002. They decided to start Matt Jones (now a wide receiver for Jacksonville Jaguars) instead of him Tarvaris so he had to go to the much less competitive Alabama State University to be a starter.

Posted by: Jake at May 1, 2006 10:42 AM

Pretty disappointed by the draft but what do I know.

We were widely lauded for a great draft last year but there is still time before we see just how good that really was.

I do know that if I picked my Fantasy team like the Vikes did this years draft I would be mocked.

Geoff

Posted by: GtheVike at May 1, 2006 12:12 PM

Looking forward to the Jackson article VG

Posted by: Elder at May 1, 2006 12:41 PM

Here's a rumor posted at Purple Thoughts. Take it with a grain of salt:
"According to my friend, the Vikes tried to move up in the first round to get Cutler (whom the Vikes had rated higher than Leinhart). I don't know if they tried to move up to 8, as has been reported. Apparently friction began to develop when Denver moved up to take Cutler at #11. The QB panic started to set in. There was a heated debate about whether to take Kellen Clemens at #48 or Griffin. Griffin was rated higher on the Vikes board, and that was the Vikes selection. Hell broke loose when the Jets moved up to grab Clemens with the #49 pick. The Vikes thought about taking Jackson then with #51, which was much higher than his board rating. Not sure who was pulling for Cook. Having missed out on Cutler and Clemens by other teams moving up, the dictate went out to move up to make sure they got the next QB on their list, Jackson."

Gotta remember, Clemens had 19TDs to 4INTs and 2400 yards with a 64% completion rate his senior year and played against much tougher competition, the toughest competition in college. Since the NY Jets liked him so much, and were obviously worried enough MN would take them they traded up, it might not be an implausable scenario.

Posted by: Jake at May 1, 2006 7:25 PM